Gold Dust Woman
by Morana of Lake by Downs
Summary: AU - Sean was an accomplished SEAL on his way to being recruited by CIA's top division until a mission went horribly wrong, forcing him to leave. One day, he sees Alexandra Udinov, famous Russian socialite, having tea with his mother and his sixth sense instantly goes into overdrive. Is the heiress really who she seems to be? Only one way to find out: posing as her bodyguard!
1. Prologue

Five years earlier

He had finally become a SEAL. All of those years dedicated to achieving his ultimate goal were finally worth it. All that time spent studying, running, working out, all those endless night shifts had finally come to fruition. He had no idea what a vacation was anymore. Hell, he had no idea what a weekend was.

Considering all of that effort, it seemed only fair that he accepted his colleagues' invitation to celebrate at a _bar._ He wasn't very fond of drinking, but he had, after all, been through all of that with them by his side. It was only logical that they should celebrate together.

He was already feeling a little slow and sleepy. Maybe he should've insisted that he didn't want any tequila, but his friends kept pushing him towards the direction of the girl who poured tequila into their mouths and she smiled at him and said that she could use the tips, so he ended up not saying no.

But now his friends were becoming a little _too_ drunk for his tastes and he had two choices: either drink more and join in or go home and sleep it off.

He looked outside for a moment, saw lightning in the sky. That was a sign that he should definitely go home; he was already going to walk home drunk. It'd better be while it's dry.

After being assured that all of his friends were fine and had safe means to go home, he left a big tip to the _tequilera_ girl and headed for the door of the bar. He had noticed that she had whiter skin around her left hand's ring finger. He figured that she probably had been married and, by the way she constantly checked her phone, she had a kid at home. He could be wrong on that one, but he'd rather be wrong than pass up the opportunity to make someone's day a little brighter.

He turned a left on the dark street, knowing that he was only a few blocks away from home. Luckily, he was familiar with the neighborhood and could've found his way home whilst blindfolded. Still, he hated leaving his guard down the way he had by becoming drunk, so he hurried through. He didn't want any surprises.

Just as he was nearing the final two blocks, he heard a high pitched scream. A _woman's _scream. He immediately knew that it had come from his right, and guessed the likely source: a small park that nonetheless was covered with enough trees to become a little shady at night. He wasn't one hundred percent yet, even though the walk had sobered him up a little, but he decided to go check on whatever was happening, especially after he heard a second scream by the same voice.

He slowly walked up to the source of the sound, careful not to give away his position, and hid behind a nearby tree. He knew it was most likely civilians, but he couldn't forget his training. He leaned a little too heavy and felt a sharp stab on his right hand; a splinter had allocated itself in his palm. He silently cursed his drunkness. He walked slowly up to another tree and found the source of the disturbance. It was a couple of homeless people, in a heated argument. The woman was screeching and grabbing at the guy's arms, and he just stood there watching. All of a sudden, the guy started choking the woman. She gasped, helpless, and tried to release herself, to no avail.

He jumped from behind the tree in a straight line towards the man. It didn't take much to knock him down; he simply poked the man's shoulder and punched him in the face when he turned around. The man fell flat on the floor.

He shook his hand off, still looking at the floor where the guy was. He suddenly realized that there was a strange silence, but then he looked up and realized why: the woman had stopped screaming. She was wide eyed, staring at him. Up close he noticed that she was a few years younger than him, probably around eighteen. He hadn't realized she was so young when he first saw her from behind the tree.

He noticed her too thin frame, probably from drug use, seemingly confirmed by the red rim around her eyes. She had long hair that was plastered to her head, and baggy, hole filled sweaters on. To him, she looked too young to be worn out like that, and so he stepped forward, unsure of what he was doing. Her eyes widened further, and he noticed that they were a vivid blue that shone even behind the fog of her likely drug abuse. She took a step backwards, and then he realized that she must be afraid of him.

He failed to notice that there was actually someone behind him, who hit him heard on the head, causing him to fall backwards. The alcohol effect seemed to expand tenfold on his brain, simply fueled by what had probably been a shovel in the head. He was blind, not even knowing whether he was turned upside or downside, until he felt a kick in his chest. He coughed loudly and folded his arms protectively, trying to gain a sense of his surroundings. Another kick, this time in the groin. He groaned in pain, feeling a shock go up his spine. The sense of urgency grew stronger in him; he swung his legs in an attempt to get back on his feet. He heard a faint scream "Robbie, NO!". It was the woman screaming as he felt a kick that he was finally able to deflect.

As he got up, he noticed that the woman had thrown herself on top of the man, attempting to tackle him. She had no chance against him with that thin frame though, but it provided enough of a distraction for him to knock the man out cold (this time for sure) with a single blow. The woman stumbled to the ground, entangled with the guy as she had been.

He approached her, his right hand stretched, to help her up. His ribcage was sore and he winced a little at the movement. But to his surprise, she looked up at his hands, with those incredible blue eyes, than looked up at him for a single second. She quickly got up and ran away, leaving him surprised with her alertness. He didn't think to run after her; he only thought to tell her that she should get the hell away from this creep Robbie she was with; and she was already putting a mile's distance from him. Also, he doubted his own capacity to run that much at that point in the evening.

So he turned his back on the guy (after making sure that he was indeed out cold and that there was no one else around) and started walking back his previous path towards his house. His head ached really badly, and he was starting to see red. His house was only one block away now, and he was sure that he could make it, dismissing the pain.

Ten meters from the entrance of his building, darkness engulfed him, making him fall flat on his face in the cold curb. He wasn't even awake long enough to feel the rain that had just started.

On the next day, lying down on his bed, he had a killer headache and no concrete memory of how he had even arrived at his bed. Every time he closed his eyes all he saw was that vivid blue blinking quietly at him.


	2. Loser

**Hey guys! I want to apologize because I'm not revising anything...but I want to get this chapters out really fast. I hope to be able to write at least a little every day...so I'm really sorry, but I'll try to revise it at some point. Also I'd like to thank my reviewers! You keep me motivated :D Enjoy!**

Sean didn't like running with ear buds.

It wasn't that he didn't like music. He wasn't fanatic about it. He had a healthy, average liking of music.

He liked hearing the wind cutting his ears better.

That was also why he loved pushing and pushing, faster and faster, until he felt the cold wind burning the sides of his cheeks, until his lungs gave in. His whole life he had pushed himself a little harder every day. He became a little better every day, and that was how he'd become a SEAL at the age of 23.

It had worked, or at least most of the time, telling himself that he could always be better. That is, until…

His lungs screamed for air, but he ran just a little bit faster in a desperate attempt to block out his thoughts. He was determined to outrun those memories. Maybe if he ran a little farther, they wouldn't catch him…

His pocket vibrated, a most welcome distraction, breaking his train of thought. He halted, fishing his S3 from his pocket. It was lit up by a message from his mom that read "Honey, please come by my house in the afternoon". He put his phone down and sighed. He certainly didn't want to be a bad son, but he'd had enough of running around doing chores for his mother. He wasn't bred for this. He recognized how much his mother had always done for him, but he honestly couldn't stand attending another gala.

His phone vibrated again. "Are you coming or not?" he stared at the luminous letters, exasperated. Rubbing his eye tiredly, he texted a quick "be there in half an hour" and turned back on the direction of his home to, at least, take a shower.

Alex checked her outfit again before walking out the door of her apartment. It couldn't be something too flashy, so as not to attract attention. But it couldn't be too shaggy either, in case she did attract attention. Division had to believe that she was just playing the part of the Russian heiress, paying visits to the women who helped her with her charity. In the end, she chose black pants and a black coat from Balenciaga, just in case. And of course, black Isabel Marant sneakers, which were comfy just in case she had to kick someone's nuts. Or run like hell.

Anyway, maybe they were last season's shoes, but they were perfect for her, she though idly as she walked out on her quiet, middle class neighborhood. She didn't know what would be more of a scandal: if the paparazzi found out that the Russian socialite lived in a small house and wore shoes she'd bought a year ago, or if Division found out she'd been sneaking around too much.

She snorted a little at that thought. The paparazzi were _definitely _worse. She could, at least, hit division agents. She couldn't hit the paparazzi, no matter how annoying they were. You couldn't even throw coffee at them, because them they would sue you, and they would have it all on camera. She often considered the latter option though, but she refrained herself every time, either for love of her Starbucks or for not having heard of one celebrity who got away with messing with the paps.

The good thing was, unlike the real celebrities, she knew how to stay under the radar. She only ever was spotted when it was convenient for the _mission._ Truth was, the more attention she got, the safer she was from being swiftly murdered by her late father's dear _friend, _Semack. That had been Amanda's argument to convince her to play the klutz. And as much as she hated Amanda, she sure did have a point.

She finally arrived at Senator Pierce's door, rang the bell and anxiously looked around, eager to get in. She couldn't very well sneak in to the woman's house, but it was best not to be seen either.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Madeline's valet finally opened the door. She put on her best fake "my life is nothing but shopping and that is why I have so much energy all the time" smile and held her expensive (albeit small, to be discreet) purse like her hand would fall off if she touched it too much. She then mentally rolled her eyes.

"Hi!" She said brightly, barging in without really having been invited, trying to pass her anxiety for confidence. "Is the Senator in? I'd like to have a word with her." She blinked, staring at the unmoving butler. "About charity. I mean, my charity".

A woman's voice came from above. "Alexandra is always welcome in this house". Alex looked up and so did the butler. The Senator was descending the stairs, followed closely by a maid in uniform. Alex put her fake smile back on. "Madeline! I'm glad you're home. I would like to discuss saturday's Gala." She then quickly looked at the sitting room, not wanting to talk in front of the help. The less people who heard, the better. Madeline followed her gaze and gestured towards the room "After you".

Alex sat down where the Senator indicated. "Tea?" Madeline offered, gesturing the maid. "Yes, sure." Alex smiled again. It was good to keep the maid occupied. She tended to hover around the Senator.

"So, what about the Gala?" the Senator asked pleasantly. "It wasn't cancelled, was it?" Alex swallowed a choke, thinking that she wouldn't be so lucky. "No. No" she said, as pleasantly as possible. She took a deep, silent breath. "I regret to inform that the speech will be given by someone else". Unless you're looking forward to a bullet in your forehead, Alex thought, trying to keep her face neutral as she searched for the Senator's reaction.

"Oh. That is unfortunate. May I ask why?" Alex frowned slightly. She didn't seem so surprised. Maybe she, like herself, only pretended to enjoy those boring evenings. Alex quickly unraveled the lie she had prepared for this occasion. "Oh, please, don't get me wrong Madeline. It is just that you have always been a strong woman. Always successful. Always at the top. We, of the committee, thought that it wasn't fair to the mere mortals. We thought of putting someone who had a history of overcoming difficulties. To help inspire the poor children we want to help." Alex wanted to gag at her own words.

"Oh, Alexandra. You flatter me. Let's not make a fuss about this. I know how to step down with grace." She smiled benevolently. "Who is speaking then?" She asked pleasantly.

Alexandra's mouth gave a quick, involuntary twist. "Me". She looked down quickly, averting Madeline's eyes for a few seconds. She always felt under intense scrutiny whenever she was under the older woman's gaze. But the worst part was yet to come. "And…I feel embarrassed to ask this of you…but if you could please justify your stepping down for a case of strep throat…you know, so it won't look bad in press". Or rather, Alex thought, to justify why Amanda's target suddenly stepped out of the line of fire.

Madeline looked uncertain. Fortunately, the tea came just at the right time, covering up the awkward moment. Alex's cup was put down in front of her and she looked down at it. Madeline raised her own cup to her lips "Of course my dear. I understand", she said gracefully. Alex breathed in a silent relief before taking a sip.

Sean silently walked in through the kitchen's door. His mother always complained about his stealthy ways, claiming that he would someday be shot by her own security if he kept sneaking in like this. He couldn't help it, though. It was just a part of who he was, now.

His mother's huge, white kitchen was empty, which struck him as odd. There was usually at least the maid there. Was his mother with company? If she did, why had she demanded his presence? He slowly walked all the way to the other kitchen door, which lead into the dining room. He then heard a woman's laughter, though it definitely wasn't one of his sisters. He heard his mother talking easily, and he relaxed a little. He then opened the door to the sitting room.

The mysterious guest was sitting at the sofa that faced the door, with his mother sitting across from her. "Sean!" his mother raised easily from where she was, going around the sofa to greet him with a kiss. The woman, however, had risen stiffly, with her hand at an odd angle at her waist. Actually, her palm was turned to her back. He found it suspicious, as if she had… tried reaching for something. That only lasted a second though, and as his mother released his cheek, the woman was already looking as relaxed as if she owned the place.

"Sean, this is Alexandra Udinov" Madeline said as she gestured towards the woman. He immediately connected the name with the socialite who constantly made the news lately. He finally looked at her face and her intense blue eyes stirred something within him. He remembered seeing those eyes somewhere….but he couldn't quite place them. He started hacking his brain for memories. He had been in Russia as a SEAL, and he'd certainly seen many eyes like those. Some of them were agonizing…

He shoved those memories out of his brain. His brain then turned to a happier place…something that seemed a lifetime ago. It finally dawned on him that he'd seen those eyes on the girl he attempted to drunkenly rescue.

"Alexandra, my son Sean is my absolute pride. He is a Navy SEAL" Alex smiled at Madeline and extended her hand towards the woman's son. It bothered her that he was a SEAL. Maybe he would notice the gun she was hiding down her pants? She searched his face as he took her hand, and he looked at her with the same scrutinizing look as his mother. He also looked familiar, which unnerved her. He looked at her as if he also knew her, and she could almost see the wheels turning in his brain as she made her face blank, like she could shove him out with her will. He finally spoke in a deep voice "Ex- SEAL, mother".


	3. Trust

**I'd like to thank my amazing reviewers...Nikita fans are the best :D **

Alex had the sneaky suspicion that man was on to her. He kept staring at her, but not in a Neanderthal, "me thinks you're pretty" way. He was analyzing her. Amanda often looked at her in that way, especially during her recruit days. Nowadays, she always got that look whenever she went to Division right after seeing Nikita. Amanda is like a dog that was trained to find drugs at the airport. Except that what she seems to smell on you is Nikita.

Michael couldn't have really stood a chance to stay undiscovered at Division after he and Nikita got together. Not with Amanda sniffing around.

The memory of Amanda rushed her decision to get up and leave. "Madeline, thank you very much for your time, but, unfortunately, I must go now. I need to attend to other matters regarding Saturday's event." She put her cup down and told herself not to get up too quickly. She rose slowly, making a show of picking her things delicately. With a smile and a brief "it was nice to meet you" to the Senator's son, she turned towards the door.

"Where are your bodyguards?" Came that male voice in a offhanded matter. She froze for a second. It was common sense that no one's bodyguards would be laying around, drinking tea with their protégés. Nor just out the door. Being a military, he had probably checked the perimeter around his mother's house and noticed that there was no one around. As she had. She turned back around, that big, patronizing smile plastering itself over her face.

"I had a little…incident with my bodyguards." When he made her a slightly disbelieving face, as patronizing as her smile had, she forced herself to go on. "Their boss was calling the paparazzi to tell them where I was going". It wasn't a total lie. Her alleged "bodyguards" were actually division agents. And they did call the paparazzi whenever Amanda felt like she had to make another appearance. But Alex had always been in the know about it.

Not that she needed bodyguards, either.

"That is unfortunate" he said, without really commiserating. "Allow me to see you home safely, then". Oh my f…was Alex's thought as she stood there, smile still on her face. "That is so kind of you, but I don't want o inconvenience. I'm not actually heading home. I'm going to the Ritz-Carlton to meet with my event planner. She is probably there already."

"Oh, that is just a few blocks from here. I'll go there and back in an instant; it won't be a problem at all." He just stood there a irritatingly polite smile on his face, perfectly composed, a wall not willing to bend. She didn't want to risk been seen with him by Division, but she could no longer stay in this house. She wondered how bad it would look like if she just ran out and shut the door in his face.

"Well then, by all means, please do accompany me. Thank you for your generous offer" She smiled dazzlingly at him, then turned again towards the door, her back on him. She promptly made a face. She really wanted to tell him to go f himself, the bastard.

She could do this. She would take a cab to avoid been seen. She would put on her big glasses and a hat as she went into the hotel to "avoid the public eye". Too bad she couldn't drink; she heard the Ritz had a pretty nice cocktail bar, and she could really use one right now.

_Use._ That was a word she had to avoid at all costs.

Sean wondered, as they hailed a cab, if Alexandra would take him somewhere and shoot him with what was most likely a gun hidden on her back. First, he had to make sure that she got away from his mother. Second, he had to find out what this woman wanted with his mother. The first one was easy enough to accomplish. The second one, well…he couldn't just ask. It would take some digging, and he knew exactly who would be perfect for the job.

The cab ride was silent, with them sitting as far apart in the back seat as possible. Alexandra looked out the window the entire time, but he could tell that she wasn't admiring the scenario as she pretended. Her back was straight as an iron rod, her legs' muscles contracted beneath her black pants. She was very much alert. She occasionally looked forward, face hidden behind huge sunglasses, no doubt eyes darting towards him every once in a while to watch him. To make sure he stayed quietly in his seat.

As they approached the hotel, she opened her purse to take her wallet out. He spontaneously covered her hands with his, steeling her progress. "Allow me", he told her. He couldn't tell if he did that because he was afraid that she would take a knife out of her purse, or if he wanted to continue to play the part of the patronizing gentleman, but he immediately regretted it. She had a pleasant smile on her face, but he could tell that she didn't like being touched. And it wasn't a part of her rich girl persona, either.

She thanked him and bid him a quiet goodbye before walking out on the street at the door of the hotel. She then looked around and quickly tapped twice on the roof of the cab, a clear sign for the car to leave quickly. His senses went into a state of alert and his brain functioned quickly. He had hailed that cab himself. She couldn't have known that he would be at his mother's house as the same time as she. She clearly didn't want him to accompany her. The driver seemed relaxed enough, focused on the traffic. So what was that "drive away" signal for?

He reasoned with himself that he probably wasn't in any immediate danger, but he still told the driver to drop him off a few blocks away from the hotel, but far from his mother's house. As he jumped off, he gave the man a reasonable tip; no cheap amount but not enough to make the man remember him.

He walked up to the front of the park that was nearby his house and watched the dark leaved trees. This park wasn't all that different from the one near his old house, where, he was pretty sure, he first met Alexandra.

_If_ that was her real name.

He knew that, as a Senator, his mother was prepared for anything and expected anything. She could take care of herself. But he was also that kind of person that would do anything to protect the people he cared about. And the moment _Alexandra_ decided to show up at his mother's house sporting a gun, she'd become his problem.

He walked silently, as was his habit, towards his home, thinking that he needed to figure that one out.

Madeline was alone in her sitting room, still considering the tension she observed between her son and Alexandra. She knew him well, and could tell that he was on the edge even as he tried to appear cool and collected.

Her phone, which had been on top the table, rang, but the message "unknown id" lit up her screen. She picked it up calmly and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Did she ask you to not give the speech?", came the voice she knew as being Amanda's.

"Yes" she replied evenly.

"Good. That means she trusts you."

With that, Amanda hung up, leaving Madeline staring blankly at her phone. Amanda was a dangerous asset and Alexandra was unfortunate to be caught on the crossfire, Madeline thought. She let out a tired breath, and her mind wandered back to her son's interaction with Alexandra. She had no idea what could've happened for him to have such a change a heart and step away from the military, but she knew he hadn't changed that much. She foresaw how easily he could be pulled into this.

She couldn't let him. He still could have a brilliant career at the CIA, a real life that he wouldn't have to hide from his family.

She couldn't let him get caught into the world of black ops.


	4. The Edge

**Hi my wonderful readers! I have good news...I actually read the guidelines this time. The part that said "always double space between paragraphs". Yeah, sorry about that. Also, thank you for the reviews, you guys are pure love. Enjoy :D**

Sean was sitting in his small living room, throwing a small, colorful bouncing ball against the wall and catching it with his right hand as it returned to him. It'd been a few days since the strange meeting with Alexandra at his mother's house. He had already collected some information on her but he was still unsure of what his next move was.

He had asked Ned, a tech savvy friend from the army, to gather intel on her. Ned was a quiet, nerdy type, so he managed to avoid questions both about the reason of his sudden interest on the heiress and his leave. He trusted Ned not to tell anyone about his research requests – and to also not think much of it. He was used to Sean's weird hunches by now. They had a "don't ask, don't tell" kind of friendship that was basically about trading favors. He judged Ned to have a good character; and he knew Ned held him in high regard, too. That was why he was comfortable asking him for stuff.

The ball returned to his hand once more, and this time, he held it still. He squeezed it a little, and got up to look again at Alexandra's files on his computer. She had inherited a part of Zetrov – Russia's biggest oil company – but a large part of it was still in control of one of the members of the board at the time of her father's death , Serguei Semak. Still, she had no small amount of money to her name.

There was a little back story of her on the files. Basically, it told of her childhood, growing up in Russia as a normal – albeit rich – kid, up till her parents' tragic deaths. That part was shady, with just a quick report saying that the house burnt to the ground due to an electrical malfunction, with not much left to investigate. It was definitely weird to have a house burn down so completely with no accounts of it. Alexandra was in her early teens at that time, and was presumed dead with the rest of her family.

Then, there were recent stories of how she wasn't dead after all. It was all pretty much sensationalized stories, with the media calling her "the new Anastacia".

Really _delicate_ of them, Sean thought.

There were stories about the charities she ran, about how she was this gorgeous, selfless person and how her life was an inspiration to everyone.

There wasn't much about how she ended up in the U.S., or what she did after she was presumed dead. It was basically a ten-year gap that was glossed over with a "due to the traumatic experience, Alexandra had lost most of her childhood memories. Fortunately, a generous, American couple adopted her. It wasn't until tragedy stroke her again, with the death of her foster parents in a car accident that she realized who she truly was."

Except that it sounded like complete bullshit to him. He had seen her as a homeless drug addict. He was expected to believe that she had simply pulled out of that life to be thrown into this new, glamorous one, by occasional fate?

His guess was that someone had pulled an average, ordinary girl from a life of hopelessness and promised her a new one as she was thrown into the shoes of the heiress. In other words, an impostor. If he was right, and the Udinov family had indeed been murdered, how could she have been the sole survivor? A mere kid at the time? Impossible.

Someone – or something – was behind this girl's actions. He had to find out who.

He had a plan. Hw knew it to be crazy and stupid, but it was the only way to ensure his mother's safety.

Alex hit the punching bag until her hands were sore and swollen. She had already destroyed her own bag, so she used that as an excuse to often come by to Team Nikita's place and use theirs. It was obvious to everyone that she only wanted to be there with them, where she felt the safest. Nikita made sure to tell her that she could come and go as she pleased – and that she didn't have to go at all – but Alex worried that she would compromise them since she still was, technically, a Division's freelance agent.

Even if she was only using them to get to Semak.

The other reason she felt she needed an excuse to see Nikita was that, even though Nikita didn't seem to resent her at all, she still felt ashamed of her own behavior. Yes, Nikita had pulled the trigger on her father…but she was different now. Even then, she did what she could with what she had. And even though she was the tool that helped take everything away from her, she was the only one who had given her anything in the years afterwards.

Not anything. Everything. Starting by her sobriety.

She glanced at Nikita, who was calmly doing yoga beside her while she wreaked havoc inside the gym room. Could she ever be like that? Be able to direct her energy in such a way? She'd always felt kind of all over the place.

Her phone bleeped, interrupting her musings. She pulled it out of her pocket, the screen showing she had just received a new e-mail on her commercial (meaning unsafe to call Nikita) phone. She huffed, thinking it to be another one of those things she had to deal with for the charity events she was forced to host. Lights, silverware…once she was forced two choose between violets and lilies as she dangled from a ceiling. _Don't even ask._

Of course, her main mission now was to get back what was rightfully hers: control of Zetrov. And that included building a good public image, hence the annoying party planners and designers.

The e-mail title read "Curriculum" and she immediately thought about those rich people that had befriended her only to get favors. That was probably someone asking for a position inside Zetrov. She opened it anyway, out of curiosity.

She was shocked to find that it was Sean Pierce's, son of Madeline Pierce, curriculum vitae, along with a couple of recommendations for his character and good work. There were also a few words that he had written for her, offering himself for the position of her bodyguard.

She thought he was truly insane.

She quickly deleted the e-mail, not even letting it stay on her trash box, then threw her phone to the side. What were his intentions? She had too much in her plate right now to have to deal with this. Frustrated, she made a series of rapid attacks on the punching bag, causing it to tear and forcing her to stop. She bent down, hands resting on knees, breathing hard. Nikita stopped her yoga and walked over so that she could sit down across from Alex. Then she asked, in a leveled manner, but still with concern etched on her face "Alex, what is wrong?".

Alex let out an exhausted breath, then proceeded to tell Nikita about the encounter she had the day she went to the Senator's house to warn her.

"…and he kept observing me the whole time. It was unnerving. He knew I was up to something, and now he is on my boot." She told Nikita, annoyance clear in her manner. Then an idea occurred to her. "Do you think that he is working for Gogol?"

"The son of the Senator? A SEAL? Unlikely. But I'll have Birkhoff check him out, to be safe. In the meantime, don't beat yourself up for this. There have been many people, especially those with some training, who caught up to Division's trail. But Division's not your burden to bear."

No, Alex thought. It is. You never chose Division, but it is still your burden. I chose it. I can't let anyone else get caught up in it.

"I just…I feel like I've seen him before. But I can't place him." She thought hard on the traits she had observed on him.

"Alex, we are trained to hold on to every detail. Maybe you saw him in passing one day."

Alex shook her head. "No…I met him before that." She frowned.

Then it came to her.

He was the drunken guy who'd tried to save her

And if she could remember him through her coke haze…

…he certainly remembered her.

"Shit. He knows who I was." She said to a confused Nikita.

Alex walked into Division as she always did: with a heavy weight upon her stomach that held the promise of becoming full blown nausea at any second. She wondered why she kept doing this. She had money enough to do whatever she wanted for the rest of her life. But she didn't want to think about what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. She had no plans for the future that didn't involve her revenge. She would kill Semak or die in the process. Maybe living on the edge was her new drug.

She walked straight to Amanda's office, as she did every week, to discuss their progress in taking down Semak – and, most importantly to Amanda, taking the black box that was with him. However, this week Amanda expected her with a different subject in mind.

"Hiring, are we?" she said to Alex from behind her computer screen as Alex entered the room.

Damn, thought Alex. She hadn't been fast enough with deleting the e-mail.

"Actually, I think this is an excellent idea. You should have him as your bodyguard."

"No, it isn't, and I'm not hiring him." Alex said matter-of-factly.

"How do you know him? Why did he send you his resume?" Amanda pressured her with that look that made Alex feel like Amanda had x-rays for eyes. Alex maintained her composure. She couldn't say that it wasn't a good idea to have Sean as her bodyguard because he was suspicious of her, since then she would raise suspicions as to under which circumstances she had met him, and that day at Madeline's house. Plus, Amanda could just decide to have him killed if she found out that Sean was trying to uncover the truth about Alex – and consequently, about Division. So she had only one argument as to why Sean couldn't be her bodyguard.

"He doesn't know what he is getting into! He expects me to be chased by crazy fans and paparazzi, not trained assassins." She knew he imagined that it went a little deeper than fans, but she couldn't very well tell Amanda. Plus, it posed as a good argument.

"You tell him a half truth, then. That you are afraid of what the current head of Zetrov might do to you. He's a former SEAL, he certainly can handle himself." Amanda stated matter-of-factly.

Alex was angry now. "_I _can handle myself. I don't need bodyguards."

"Now, now Alex" Amanda started on her mother tones "it is most unusual for an heiress to walk around alone. And since you're going to be appearing more often on public events and such, it would be nice for you to be accompanied by a bodyguard who isn't supposedly dead." She said, snidely referring to the division agents who often pose as her bodyguards.

Alex got up. "Look, Amanda. I don't have to follow your _advice_." And stormed out of Division.

Amanda understood what Alex meant. She wasn't a Division agent, she simply associated with them. And she wouldn't follow orders. Not when she didn't find them convenient. Well, Alex seemed to find a lot of orders inconvenient, as of lately, Amanda thought. Alex was pretty difficult, but had always intrigued Amanda with her potential and secrets. She'd always had a hard time controlling her.

Fortunately, there were other ways around things.

Amanda picked up the phone from her desk, dialing the number in the e-mail.

"Mr Pierce? This is Ms. Udinov's RP, Amanda. You're very qualified, congratulations. The job is yours."


	5. The Wall

**Hi guys! First of all, thank you for reading :D second, have you watched last friday's Nikita? If you haven't, skip my next commentaries and just read the story! If you have, Alex broke my heart! But I don't think she wants to be mean or that she likes Owen...I think it is pretty clear by the way she acted while she tried to save Sean during "Black Badge" that she loves him a lot, she's just afraid of it and have issues trusting people, so she (un)consciously pushed him away a little bit. What do you guys think? I think the show is heading towards a good direction, with the Nikita/Amanda showdown coming up and seeing Nikita and Ryan being somewhat corrupted by Division...I hope they give more screentime to Sean/Alex too :D**

**Alright, let's get this fic started...**

Sean arrived at the address where Amanda guaranteed Alex lived. Her house was actually pretty simple, especially for someone who had as much money as she allegedly did. But he didn't expect anything different, really. He walked up to her white front door, rang the bell and stood there, waiting with his hand in his pocket.

All of a sudden he found himself being slammed against the door, which opened with the impact. He didn't have to look to figure out to whom belonged the slight but surprisingly strong frame. Wisps of a light brown hair came into his vision to confirm his suspicions, as they struggled on the floor of what could only be her living room. She had him pinned to the floor, throwing a punch before he could take a hold of her arms. He managed to get the upper hand and roll on top of her, trying to make her still, but she managed to knee him and throw him to the side. They both quickly got up from their crouched positions, facing each other in guarded stances.

"Don't you think you're taking this too far?" Alex asked him, her breathing slightly uneven, hair wildly around her face.

"Is this a technical interview? I thought the job was already mine." He said easily back to her, pretending not to understand what she was talking about.

Alex became disconcerted. "Job? No. You can forget about that crazy bodyguard thing."

"Oh, but I am your bodyguard already. Your PR hired me."

"My PR?" She frowned a little bit, but then it occurred to her. "Amanda?"

"Yes, Amanda. She hired me."

Alex turned her head to the left side, fuming. Luckily, her hair was hiding her face. She could kill Amanda! Once again she managed, in true Amanda style, to use people to advance her goals. In this particular case, she assumed, the goal was Madeline Pierce. She turned back to him. "Look, this was a misunderstanding. I'm not looking for a bodyguard. You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

He took a step closer to her. Her back was almost against the wall and he had a wide torso and a firm stance, so she realized that he had basically trapped her. She saw him accompanying the movement of her eyes as she looked sideways and they both knew that he could easily block any escape attempt on her part.

She faced him. She could always hit him again, she thought. That would start another round of fighting. He was stronger than her and moved like a soldier, which made it harder for her to predict his next movements. With a public appearance coming up, she wasn't interested in obtaining a bruise that would be hard to explain. She wasn't interested in hurting him...much. She looked into his eyes, speculating.

He looked straight back into her eyes. "What am I getting myself into?"

She remembered those features, Alex thought as she observed his face. He was definitely the guy who attempted to save her five years ago. He held himself in the same way, too. Not many men with such a big frame could move so lightly. And if anything, he'd become even lighter.

Nikita had already passed her all the information on him they'd gotten. He had a perfect record. High grades, good behavior, good teamwork, rapid ascension. Condecorated. The reasons why he left the military weren't on record, but otherwise, he was the perfect soldier.

So, Alex thought, he was either a boy scout or a psychopath.

Given that he had tried to save a homeless girl from an abusive boyfriend, she had to go with Boy Scout.

Her eyes softened as she remembered how he had tried to help her that day. It weren't many people that extended a helping hand to her in those days.

He was still waiting for her to answer, so she decided to give him a half truth.

"Sergei Semak, current President of Zetrov, wants me dead. That means Gogol, the Russian mafia, is after me." She told him seriously.

He didn't flinch or blinked an eye. "So you really need a bodyguard."

She snorted a little, something Sean had never seen her do before. "I need to reincarnate in another life, that's what I need" she said sarcastically. She pulled her hair back and slid against the wall until she sat on the floor, and stayed there, staring at the other side of the room, a tired expression in her face. That was the most vulnerable Sean had seen her so far, which was probably what made him sit down beside her. She didn't even look at him as he reclined against the wall and turned to observe her.

She looked a lot skinnier than she had that day at his mother's house. It was hard for him to believe that she was able to tackle him, with her weighing probably half of what he did. Her baggy clothing contributed to remind him of that night in the park, and even though she looked a lot healthier now, he could clearly see that girl in her. She had a different aura; more confident, stronger. But she still held a fire in her eyes that promised she could be really dangerous if she wanted to.

"Look, let's make a deal. If you answer one question truthfully, I'll leave." He told her in a friendly tone, and then searched for her reaction.

She sighed, impatient. "I'll answer one question and then you leave town for a while."

He laughed a little. "This town isn't big enough for the both of us?"

"I don't want anyone to be caught up in my life." She said softly, lacking a better way to explain it without giving anything away.

"Look, we SEALs are not named after the animal, you know? We are a little tougher than that. S.E.A.L. is an acronym for…"

Alex interrupted him, a small smile in her face. "I've heard that when you become a soldier, you have to take classes to learn how to go back normal society. Have you skipped those?" She asked him in a light playful tone.

He smiled. "I'm not the one who tackles my guests at the front door of my house."

"You're not a guest. Just ask the question." Her face had turned back to being blank.

He didn't skip a beat. "Where did you learn to fight?"

She turned her face fully to him. "A friend." _Nikita._

"You fight Krav Maga, the martial arts of American Intelligence, as a hobby?"

"It's a useful skill to have when – " When what? Alex thought. When you are a drug addict? In prison? Homeless? A slave? A field agent for a black ops group? A double agent?

"- when you are being threatened."

Sean seemed to consider her answer for a moment. Then he suddenly got up, stood there for a second, his back turned to her.

"Ok." He acknowledged. Without further comment, he walked out her front door and left.

Alex stayed where she was, sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, staring at nothing. She felt exhausted, dark thoughts travelling through her mind.

Amanda had already pulled him in.

On the next day, Alex went to Nikita's house in the morning to work out, as was her habit these days. She didn't mention the new developments on the Sean frontline to Nikita. She didn't want to whine. She trusted Nikita, but she also had to solve her own problems and think a little for herself. That was the good thing she had taken from their time apart.

She went home after her training with her legs heavy and a sore stomach, wanting nothing more than to take a hot bath and sleep. She stopped with her hand in her knob to consider this place she called "home". It was more of a place that she slept and bathed in (when she didn't sleep or bathe in Nikita's house) that had no personal touches. Sometimes, she thought that If she survived her revenge, she would someday have a real place to call home.

She realized that it was the first time in a while that she'd thought about a future. She turned the knob, dismissing the thoughts, and entered her home.

Sean once again arrived at Alex's door. This time he stood with his back against the wall, alert so as not to be tackled again, Alex noticed as she looked through the peep hole, smirking a little. She opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" Exasperation and tiredness were evident in her voice. "That wasn't the deal."

"I didn't like your deal." He said, walking past her into her house without being invited.

Alex shut the door. "So, you're not a man of your word?"

Sean paused for a moment, looked right into her eyes, a serious expression on his face. "I'm _nothing_ if not a man of my word" he told her in a soft voice. Alex stared at him, searching his eyes, considering his words for a while. He broke the silence first.

"First we have to discuss your schedule." He told her in a business manner. Alex broke eye contact, exasperated.

"Seriously, what are you doing here?"

"My job. I've been paid already."

Alex almost choked. "You've been paid? By Amanda?"

"Yes. Who is that Amanda anyway?" She sure as hell wasn't a PR, Sean thought.

Alex thought she would seize. There was no getting rid of him now. This idiot might as well have been recruited into Division. Maybe Alex figured it out wrong and Amanda was putting him up to spy on Alex. She was suspicious enough that Alex had been visiting Nikita. Those thoughts ran frantically through Alex's head repeatedly, making her grow more and more nervous. She had to stall him until she figured a way to get him off her back and out of the radar.

It occurred to her that it would be risky, but he could be useful at the gala to protect his mother.

"Fine." She conceded. "There's this Gala tomorrow. I'll send you details through e-mail. Be prepared, anything could happen. And I mean - she swallowed - _anything._" Alex then opened her front door and gestured for him to leave. He silently got up to leave, satisfied for now.


	6. Falling

**Hey guys, sorry for the wait, I've had this chapter ready for a while, but this week was crazy...I celebrated my birthday last tuesday (5th), on wednesday I had a fever, on thursday I got a job and on friday I was without internet or even power for six hours due to heavy rain!** **Pretty crazy week, huh? So, hope this chapter was worth the wait!**

**I did manage to find time to watch the latest Nikita episode though...and let me say this...an episode without Dillon Casey isn't the same!**

**Enjoy ^^**

Alex sent Sean the e-mail with the security details of the event. She'd also told him to contract a limo and pick her up at the Ritz – Carlton, where she'd be getting ready. He'd replied insisting to meet her sooner, the better to be able to protect her from those crazed celebrity hairdressers, who may or may not decide to get funny with the scissors. Alex smiled as she read that. Then she replied with a dry "I'm doing my own hair. And makeup."

That got him quiet.

She had an extra pair of hands to help her though: Nikita's. As it turns out, she was a crazy good hairdresser, and Alex figured that was from having to look fancy for so many missions.

"This is so silly." Alex said as she sat in front of a vanity full of professional lights.

"I know. But it is a lot harder to get rid of Alexandra Udinov than it is to get rid of Alex. No offense." She had a tender smile as she looked at Alex through the mirror, her hands busy giving her hair an updo.

"Hey. Alex knows how to shoot a gun." Was her sassy reply.

Nikita smiled. "I know you can take care of yourself."

Alex's face contorted in a childlike manner. "Well, I have a bodyguard now." She said awkwardly.

Nikita stopped brushing Alex's hair. "What? That Sean Pierce?"

"Yes. Amanda's doing. She wants to get to his mother. I don't know what his angle is, though. We have already established that he is a boy scout."

"He is trying to get to Division." Alex faced Nikita's serious expression through the mirror.

"Do you think he knows what Division is?" She asked heavily.

"No. But he is suspicious. Like Ryan was. He suspected of you going to his mother's house. I think he wants to protect her."

"And now I have to protect him from Amanda." Alex concluded, exasperated.

"Be careful, Alex. Amanda could use him to get to you." Nikita told her gravely. Alex considered this, knowing it to be true and silently admonishing herself for not being able to get rid of him.

"Do you think that he really is oblivious in this?" She asked Nikita, after a few moments of silence.

"Maybe. For now. But it won't take long for him to start scheming."

Alex looked at Nikita through the mirror, pondering her words.

Sean knocked on the door to Alex's hotel room. She quickly opened the door, looking him up and down, analyzing his outfit. "You're the best dressed bodyguard I've ever seen."

"That's because I'm going undercover. As your guest." He said, fixing up his collar and putting his arm out for her.

She took it as they walked down the corridor. "Great. A fake date."

"You can't complain. It's Armani, and I've been working out."

She mused on that for a second. "Not too shabby" she conceded.

Shabby definitely wasn't amongst the words that Alex would use to describe the event. Everything was shiny, polished and new. Everything, including the guests.

Speaking of which, Madeline was the first one she saw as she and Sean entered the ballroom. She looked at them both from head to toe, including where Alex's arm was linked with her son's. Alex let go. "Alexandra." She smiled. "And Sean?" There was a note of…Alex wouldn't say _curiosity _in her voice. It was more along the lines of incredulity. She kept her pleasant smile nonetheless. "I see you two became friends. And after only one cab ride?" Sean took Madeline by the shoulders, steering her towards the canapés. "Come mother, let's see around."

Alex watched the scene from afar with some curiosity. Sean was a discreet man, but she could see the affection he had for his mother even in his eyes. And she reciprocated it. He was a momma's boy. She smiled to herself. She'd been a daddy's girl and a momma's girl, but that had been so long ago now that she'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a family. Unfortunately, all her good memories came together with a pang, so she forced herself to consider the present time.

After forty five minutes of greeting guests, making small talk, complimenting dresses and faking smiles, Alex was ready to go home and take an extra-long bath. She couldn't imagine anything better than being at home watching Grey's Anatomy right now.

Sean approached her as she silently cursed her long dress.

"Hey"

Great, Alex thought, another round of pretending.

"Hi. How's your mom?" she asked with a smile.

"Enjoying herself." And so could he, now that he had assured that her security plan was in order, including the undercover bodyguards she had.

"You know, you didn't have to pretend to be my bodyguard just to be here. I could've invited you."

"I'm not pretending to be your bodyguard. I was making the rounds to try and recognize any threats." He told her in a low voice.

"What if a guest had attacked me? You weren't anywhere near to defend me." She offered him a sneaky smile.

He recognized her teasing and gave her a similar smile. "Something tells me that _Alexandra Udinov_ could've handled a little one-on-one fight."

"Exactly. _I don't need a bodyguard._"

"Hey, I didn't say you could handle three or four bad guys. _Or can you?"_ he said, throwing her smart-assness right back at her. She shot him a dirty look.

"Maybe I'll handle _you_ later." Came Alex's veiled threat. Sean looked to the side, an uncomfortable look in his face. That made Alex realize how double-entendre her statement had been. She rolled her eyes at herself and walked away to fetch some water.

Alex's speech time was near, making her very nervous. It had nothing to do with having to talk in front of a hundred people. She knew that Division had put a hit on Madeline's head, but she had resigned from making the speech at the last minute due to a "throat ache", but nothing stopped them from having a backup plan that she knew nothing about. Being sneaky was Division's – actually, Amanda's – specialty.

Her eyes kept darting to the place were Madeline stood – at the left corner of the stage, right beside her son, who hovered over his mother protectively, his eyes also alert to any possible threats. For the first time, she was actually thankful that he was there, because otherwise, she was on her own.

She hadn't allowed Nikita or Michael to come anywhere near this event, since it would be crawling with Division agents. She had helped them hack Division security equipment though, so they had eyes all over the place, and, of course, she had her comm.

She took a deep breath and commenced her speech. It was a brief, mellow speech, with a tiny bit of humor that she had put together after watching four Oscar acceptances on Youtube. She was greatly applauded, which she accepted with a polite smile and a "thank you". She turned to the left to exit the stage. Sean was waiting for her at the bottom of the short stair.

Nikita's voice came urgently on her right ear as she neared the steps.

"Alex, get out! We caught a frequency, there is a bomb on the ceiling right above the stairs! I repeat, there is a bomb, get out! Alex, do you copy?" Alex looked around frantically, but didn't answer Nikita's urgent questions. She looked at the ceiling where the bomb was, and looked beneath it. Sean was the only one below it. She looked in his eyes that were so similar to his mother's, her blood drumming in her ears, adrenaline running high in her blood.

Instead of safely running to the opposite side, she ran frantically towards the stairs, jumping from the top step, knocking Sean over and rolling them both away just as the left side of the stage exploded.

Sean observed Alex as she gave her speech. He had taken his position seriously and checked around the perimeter, scanned the room and kept an eye out for suspicious activity. He told himself that it was all for the safety of his mother, who was standing right beside him, but he had a bad feeling. He didn't want to admit it, but Alexandra being up there in the stage made him anxious. He kept checking her surroundings, looking for invisible threats.

His mother swayed a little beside him, and he put his arm around her shoulders to keep her steady. "Are you ok?" he asked her quietly, worried. "Yes. I'm just going to the bathroom." He anxiously followed her with his eyes as she made her way to the bathroom, quietly signaling for one of her bodyguards (a female, undercover as a guest) to make sure she was ok.

He returned his eyes to the stage as Alex was applauded and turned towards him to leave. He was surprised to find himself accompanying her progress and feel a little more relieved with each step she gave.

But then she suddenly stopped, face suddenly flushed, eyes widened as she looked at the ceiling, then at him. He looked at the ceiling too, realizing her meaning.

_There was no time_, he thought, his eyes up.

But then he tumbled over and out of the way miraculously, as he found himself being knocked over by her for the second time in his life, this time for very different reasons though. They managed to roll away as hell exploded near them.

Sean soon recovered and noticed that he was on top of Alex, who was knocked out cold. He checked her pulse and saw that it was steady. He quickly got up, pulling her limp body up with him, and scanned the chaotic crowd for his mother. Fortunately, he could see that she was unharmed, and was already being extracted by her bodyguards through the back. He looked around to check if anyone else was hurt, but apparently it had been a small blast. Through the smoke he saw that the security was taking the guests out through the door safely.

He pulled Alex with him, and took her out through the back. He had to take her to the only place he was sure would be safe for her: his house.

Later that evening, when she'd made sure that she was safe, Madeline instructed her employees not to go near her office. Once alone, she picked up her secure phone and dialed a number she knew well. It rang three times before it was picked up on the other end.

"Madeline." Came Amanda's pleasant voice.

"First of all, how did your agents let a bomb explode under their noses?" she asked, furious.

"We are currently looking into shrapnels of the bomb we found on location. Let me check with Investigation to see what we have so far. Please hold." Amanda analyzed her manicure for a good two minutes. Then she put the phone back in her ear. "Everything leads us to believe that it was an inside job by a Gogol agent infiltrated to make an attempt on Alex's life."

Madeline did not buy that.

"Let me remind you that _treason _is a crime taken very seriously."

Amanda smiled even though she knew Madeline couldn't see.

"It is, isn't it? Betrayal is a delicate, nasty subject. But only if it is an American betraying an American. Let's say if it was an American betraying a Russian…" Amanda said in her usual pleasant tone.

Madeline ignored her.

"Second of all, what is my son doing with _your agent?_"

Amanda's smile widened further.

"You should ask him. He was the one who took an interest in Alex, wanting to be her bodyguard. And Alex is not Division."

"It doesn't matter. Use whatever influence you have to make this stop." With that, Madeline hung up. She then picked her regular phone and ordered some tea to be brought to her room.

Madeline didn't know what was worse: the fact that her son was getting involved with Division or the fact that he now would be targeted by Gogol agents. She thought her heart would explode, the future she had always envisioned for her son being shredded to pieces right in front of her eyes.

She had to put an end to this.


	7. Silver Spoons

Alex woke up with a start. She reached for her gun under the pillow but found nothing. She took in her surroundings, trying to make sense of where she was, but it was dark and her head ached with the effort.

A light was suddenly turned on, and she saw Sean sitting on a chair, looking comfortable in baggy pants and an old t-shirt. He also looked sleepy, as though he'd just woken up. She looked down at herself, and saw that she was covered in a blanket, but still had her ruined party dress on.

Then she remembered it all: the party, the blast, running to save Sean…

"Where am I?" She asked, but immediately regretted it. Talking hurt. Blinking hurt too.

Don't even get me started on breathing, thought Alex as she rested her head in her hands.

"My house. You are safe here." She looked up at him, alarmed.

"Your house? Why am I not at my _own_ house?" she demanded.

"I had to take you where I knew you would be safe."

Alex said nothing, simply stared at him. She couldn't assess right now how safe she was. She'd probably be safe from Gogol for a few days – but the real question was: would she be safe from _him_?

"Who were you communicating with?" He asked as he pointed his head towards the comm that had previously been inside her ear, and which was now sitting on the bedside table.

She silently cursed.

"Did you bring me here to interrogate me?" She asked him in an even voice.

He stood up in a relaxed manner, clearly at ease in his own house. She didn't waver and kept staring at him.

"No. I brought you here to take care of you." He told her simply. "I went to your house, discreetly, – he assured her – and brought some of your clothes." He pointed towards a gym bag at the foot of the bed. She wondered what else he had searched for at her house. Luckily, she knew it was vulnerable to Division and never left much there anyway, only her guns – which she was sure he'd seen.

He walked towards the door. "There is a bathroom in the corridor. I'll be in the living room, if you need anything." He then shut the door gently behind him, leaving her to rest.

Alex picked up the comm from her bedside table and attempted to contact Nikita, to no avail. It had probably been damaged due to the explosion, so she put it under her pillow, making a mental note to destroy it later. She lied down on the bed again. Her limbs felt heavy and she realized that she was in a difficult position, with no way of escaping and no immediate means of communication.

She sighed, feeling exhausted. That pillow felt so nice and her mind felt so foggy. She figured that if he wanted her dead, he could've killed her already. Maybe she could take these hours to rest in order to be stronger later to be able to escape.

That thought barely had time to cross her mind before she fell, once again, into a deep slumber.

Sean hesitated before knocking on his – currently Alex's – room with his left hand, his right holding a tray with orange juice and some toast. He wasn't sure if bringing her breakfast was a little bit too much, but he guessed that since she hadn't tried to kick his ass and leave, she was probably in bad shape.

He finally knocked on the door. "Alex, are you awake?" No answer came. "Alex?"

He heard a faint "Come in" in a voice made raspy by sleep. He opened the door, only then noticing that he'd been anxious to see if she was doing better.

She was better, apparently, since she was sitting up with her legs out of the bed, making him worried that she would make a run for it. But she didn't, she simply stayed there, eyes still sleepy. "Hi" she told him softly.

"Hi" he said back. Alex noticed that he had a worried expression. Then she noticed that he had brought food. Good, she thought. I'm starving. She quickly turned around as he sat the tray on her bedside table, preparing to reach for a glass, when she stopped herself. It crossed her mind that he could have put _something_, like a truth serum, to it. She froze, unsure of what to do.

He took the orange juice cart and poured two glasses, one for him, one for her, took his and started drinking. He then grabbed a toast and arranged it on his plate. Seeing that she wasn't picking it up, he extended her glass to her. She took it gratefully.

"So who do you think was behind the attempt on your life?" He asked her in a conversational tone.

She considered what she should tell him for a second.

"_If_ the attempt was indeed on _my_ life, it was probably Gogol. But there were a lot of important people there."

"Gogol? Semak has a pull with Gogol?" he asked her, surprised.

"He owns Gogol." She told him, looking down. This wasn't a safe subject to tread on with him. It led to dangerous information and she couldn't quite trust her emotions when she talked about it.

"You must have quite the backup with you." He narrowed his eyes, assessing her. "Who do you work for?"

Alex swallowed dry. "We don't beat around the bush, do we?" She wiped her mouth delicately with the paper napkin that had been on the tray. "I don't work _for_ anyone except myself."

He leaned forward a little, arms resting on his knees. "Then you work _with_ someone. Who?"

She stared at him with piercing blue eyes. Her tone was serious when she said "You're asking dangerous questions, Sean." He didn't hear her say his name often, and that made an impression on him somehow.

"What were you doing that day at my mother's house _with a gun_?" He tried again, his tone as serious as hers.

"I think you know by now why I carry a gun around. It has nothing to do with your mother. I don't want her dead."

"But someone does." He cut her. "And I think you know who."

She shook her head. "She's a Senator. A lot of people probably want her dead just for breathing."

Sean inhaled sharply. "And that is why I go to the lengths I go to protect her."

Alex's face hardened. "Like becoming my bodyguard?" Sean looked up at her, a slight shadow of guilt over his semblance. Or maybe it was just Alex's imagination, because it was barely there.

Alex ran her hands through her hair. "Look, let's strike a deal. I understand where you come from. You stop meddling in my life, investigating me, _stalking me_ – Alex threw him an slightly admonishing gaze – and I'll give you any leads I have on plots against your mother."

Sean considered this. "Doesn't that conflict with _your _interests?" He asked her, skeptical.

Alex sighed. "There is only one person in the world I want dead." _Semak, _Alex completed in her head.

Sean gave it some thought. He couldn't promise to stop investigating her, but it was the farthest he'd gotten so far. He'd take it. There was only one problem.

"Fine, but how do we know that we can trust each other?" He stared at her.

"We don't." Alex told him straight faced. "I saved you. You took care of me. We'll go by on that. That's the best we can do on this situation."

They stared at each other for long seconds. It almost looked as though they were waiting to see who would blink first.

"Fine" Sean said, breaking the staring contest.

"Fine" Alex replied, a small smile on her face. "Now, - she said, getting up with some difficulty – where was that bathroom again?"

Alex finally got rid of that dress. She showered, and Sean even helped her make it to the bathroom door. She now had on some of the clothing Sean had brought for her, and she felt a lot better already.

She went stumbling back to what she figured had to be Sean's room that she was currently occupying. She had noticed that there was a pillow on the couch in the living room, so that was probably where he was sleeping.

She was holding herself against the wall in the corridor, one small step at a time. She had already concluded that there were no fractures, no internal damage, but the impact had been huge. She had more than a few nasty bruises that hurt like hell and her muscles hurt like she'd been doing gym for like 24 hours straight.

Sean showed up in the corridor, heading towards the opposite direction. "Need help?" He asked her in a friendly manner.

"No, that's ok" Alex said, trying to smile to conceal the pain she was in.

"Here, let me help you" he then proceeded to hoist her up and carry her like a bride towards his room. Alex squealed in protest "No, no, wait, wait!" but it was too late. Alex didn't want to admit, but she was impressed with how easily he carried her.

He dropped her gently by the side of his bed. "Here we are, princess." She sat down on the bed and proceeded to take her sweater off, remaining in her tank. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt too, and she felt how warm he was when he carried her. It made her think of that werewolf character on that teenage movie.

Sean noticed Alex as she pulled the sweater over her head, but quickly looked the other way before she could notice him staring. It was undisputable that she was pretty, Sean thought, but that wasn't really relevant for their situation.

"I'm gonna leave you to rest. If you need anything, just shout."

Alex thanked him and reclined back in bed. Soon enough her eyelids started growing heavy, and she felt the need to go to sleep again. He had a pretty comfortable bed for a man who should be used to sleeping on the floor or not even sleeping at all. It certainly beat Division's beds and even her own bed at the apartment she was currently using.

She reasoned that at least she wouldn't feel any pain while sleeping and that it would help her heal faster, so she let herself be engulfed by sleep once more.

The next day Alex woke up starving. She'd slept for like over twelve hours, so she hadn't had any meals the day before. She tentatively sat up on the bed and swung her legs outside, testing her ability to get up and walk. She was happy to see that the pain had minimized to a tolerable level, so she went searching for food outside of the bedroom.

She opened the door, trying to be as quiet as possible. It wasn't a big apartment, so she had no trouble guessing towards each direction the kitchen was. When she went through the living room, she found the couch to be empty, meaning that Sean was already up.

It didn't take long for her to find him or the kitchen. She actually found both at the same time, as Sean was standing over the oven, administering something that she couldn't see because his body blocked her view.

She was two steps behind him, and not that she'd tried to sneak upon him, but she naturally moved quietly, and her training had perfected that trait. Needless to say she was surprised when he said "Morning, Alex." Without turning back an inch.

"Are you feeling better?" Now he asked looking at her, and she could see that he was making pancakes. Actually, she could see that he was preparing two plates, each with a considerable stack of pancakes on it. Her eyes shone and she hoped to _God_ that one of them was for her, because she was so hungry.

"Much better" she said, still looking at the food. Sean followed her hungry gaze to the pancakes, got the last one out of the pan and turned the fire off. He gestured for her to sit on the table, which she did, as he took both plates in his hands and proceeded to load the table with the assortment of topping he currently had in stock.

She watched him set the table, for once not looking at the pancakes like a cartoon characters. She found the sight of him, arranging plates and such, oddly appealing. He had _cooked breakfast for them_. It felt intimate to her and she was suddenly tong tied as though they'd hooked up the night before.

"So, what do you usually have with your pancakes?" He asked her in a jovial tone. "Maple syrup?" He asked her, holding up the bottle.

She smiled. "I'd have the raw eggs if you hadn't made pancake, that's how hungry I am. Plus, I don't usually eat breakfast, so I wouldn't know"

"You don't eat breakfast?" He feigned shock. "How do you have energy to tackle guys double your size, gun people down, push people out of the way of bombs?" He looked up from his pancake. "You know, your daily activities?" Alex laughed. Sean smiled.

"Here, let me just…" and he proceeded to pour maple syrup on her stack.

She observed him as he focused on decorating her pancakes with a smile. It occurred to her how _normal_ this looked like. That got her musing how long it'd been since she last felt that way, and she was sent back to the time when she was dating Nathan. She'd grown attached to him, but she ruined his life the moment he found out the truth.

She figured that was why Michael and Nikita were so good for each other. They could be their _real _selves, guns included and what not. She looked up from her pancakes to Sean. She would never have what Michael and Nikita have with anyone. Even if the guy had no problem with, you know, _a little blood,_ how could they relate to anything else she'd gone through?

Suddenly the pile of pancakes seemed too tall for her to handle them and she dropped her fork on the plate and leaned back on her chair.

"You didn't like them?" Sean asked lightly, a bite of pancake on his fork.

"No, I liked them." She shook her head, picked the fork again and started rearranging the pancakes on the plate.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked her softly.

Alex looked at him, and, for a split second, he thought he saw vulnerability on her large blue eyes. Then it was gone and she looked down again. "Sometimes it is just…hard." She said earnestly.

Sean said nothing for a while, just ate quietly. "I know." He told her quietly. She looked up from her plate. They traded glances for a second and Alex wondered why his departure from the military was a blank space in his file.


	8. No Light

Alex had ultimately decided to recuperate at Sean's house. It would be risky to stay lengthy amounts of time at Nikita's place and, as much as she hated to admit it, she was currently too easy a target to be on her own. Staying at Sean's would appease Amanda while offering her some degree of protection, sparing her from having to hide out in Division.

It bothered her that she was actually _using_ Sean and putting him in harm's way. He had pretty much asked for it when he forced his presence in her life, but still, it bothered her enough that she had to bring it up.

"Why are you letting me stay here?" She sprung up on him the next morning, taking him by surprise. She stood over with arms crossed as he sat on the couch he'd been sleeping in, obviously still a little fuzzy from sleep.

He looked up at her. "I thought we had a truce". She sat beside him. "It didn't involve you playing host." He turned to look at her. "Good. Does that mean that you're the one cooking breakfast today?" He asked easily.

Alex ignored him. "Seriously. Do you have any idea of the risks you're taking by letting me stay here?" Sean looked away, apparently tired of what she was saying. "Probably very similar risks to the ones you took when you pushed me out of the way of that bomb." He told her in earnest.

Alex didn't reply. Nikita had rubbed that off on her. They had special abilities. They could turn their past around by helping others just like they were once helped. People were worth saving.

"Actually, you probably ended my bodyguard career." Sean suddenly said to her, teasing. "First time the heiress saves the bodyguard."

Alex smirked. "I'm making French toast."

Sean smiled at her.

A couple of days went peacefully by and Alex found weird how much she'd gotten comfortable to this routine they had. They'd share meals, sometimes he'd cook, sometimes she would, they'd do house chores and even watch TV together. It felt so...normal.

Whenever she realized how relaxed she was, she would mentally reprimand herself. Truth was, this quiet life seemed like a small breather from her real life.

The thing was, her _real _life could come bite her ass at any time. And she had to be prepared for when that happened, so she couldn't relax. In the back of her head, she was already planning her next move. Alexandra Udinov would finally return to her childhood home in Russia.

She would use the "visit" to identify security details, but most of all, to put more pressure on Semack on her public battle for Zetrov. _Yes. _She would psychologically torture him every chance she got, and while that could further spur him on his attempts to kill her, she would be that annoying mosquito that bites you three times, and it itches, and you slap and slap but you just can't get him. And then she would kill him.

It didn't matter anymore what happened to her after she killed him. If there was one reason she had survived the massacre on her family all those years ago, that was it. Revenge. Her fate was sealed. There was nothing else for her.

If killing him was a suicidal mission, so be it.

Sean observed as Alex sat on the couch, a thoughtful and focused look on her face, her expression full of hard lines. He could only wonder what she thought about, but he had a delicate subject to breach with her and it could no longer wait.

When he went to Alex's house to fetch some clothes, he did a sweep of her apartment and found a hidden camera. He had no idea how she could've missed it, but it could've been put there recently. He used it to trace it back to its seller, and then to its buyer.

A shadow unit called _Division. _

He hadn't managed to uncover much information on it, but he didn't expect to, either. He had told her she didn't work _for _anyone, but Division must be a place she worked with. And apparently, it wasn't a trusting relationship, either. He had, however uncovered information on a specific mission that held very much interest to him.

He sat beside her on the couch, breaking her out of her reverie. "What is Division?" He asked her straight-faced. He watched for her reaction as she slowly turned towards him, her face straight but eyes blazing. He could almost picture red sparks coming out of her eyes, such was the force of her stare.

"Where did you get that name?" She asked him calmly.

He put the now broken small camera over the table. "I've found this on your apartment. Traces –sinuously, I admit – back to them."

Alex stared at the camera and back to him. She tried to remember when was the last time she'd checked her apartment. It hit her that'd been the day before she met him.

She looked hard at him, considering. How seriously was Amanda after him? How much danger would he be in if she told him about Division? How much danger was he already in right now? She silently cursed the situation she found herself in. Right now, it was unclear to her on how she should proceed, but she knew she had to make a decision.

Actually, the decision was already made in her mind. She just hoped it was the right one.

_Here we go, _Alex thought.

"How much do you know about Division?" She looked right into his eyes, asking in a serious tone. His expression matched hers in heaviness.

"Not much. It is illegal. I do know about one of their operations, though." He said carefully.

Alex considered him. "Which one?"

He paused for a moment. However she responded to this was crucial to him finding out the truth.

"_Pale fire."_

Alex went very still as she heard him utter the name of the mission that ended her life as she knew it. Sean noticed her uneasiness.

"How could the youngest Udinov have escaped a team of trained killers at only fourteen? And why is the last Udinov working with the agency that killed her entire family?"

_Tricky questions, _mused Alex.

"I am sure you have a theory." She stalled.

Sean stared at her calm mask. "You are not going to like it." He told her in earnest.

Alex moved her face an imperceptible inch closer to his. "Try me."

"Division wants a hold of the biggest oil company in the East. They take a Russian girl and train her to act the part of the lost heir. The current President is pushed away and a pawn is put in his place." He finished his sentence without taking his eyes off of hers for one second. She simply stared back at him with a look that concealed an emotion he couldn't quite identify. Was it…disappointment? Sean thought.

Alex felt strangely saddened. Whatever she expected him to say, it didn't involve him thinking she was an impostor.

Sean observed as Alex looked down, breaking their stare. He creased his eyebrows slightly, finding her reaction unusual. He had become used to her piercing blue eyes by now, and having her shy away was a first for him.

Suddenly, the noise of breaking glass reached their ears, drawing their attention to the living room windows. Unsurprisingly, one of them was broken, and they immediately stood and took cover behind the couch as they searched for the object that had broken the window. They quickly found a gas bomb on the carpet in front of the couch, a thick white smoke coming out of it. They both dragged their shirts over their faces as Sean signaled for Alex for them to retreat to the bedroom.

Soon enough they started hearing men approaching the outside of the apartment. They ran through the corridor, ducked, as Sean turned off all the lights. Shots were being fired through the living room windows. Alex opened the door to Sean's bedroom (the one she'd been sleeping in) and the both went in, shutting it behind them. Alex swiftly looked out of the window and saw that they could make an exit through the rooftop of the neighboring building. She looked back at Sean, who nodded, apparently agreeing with her thoughts.

He proceeded to open his closet, taking out a fake panel to reveal a small collection of weapons. He threw her a knife and a gun, taking one for himself, and ammo. He then stood up. "Go. I'll cover for you". Alex agreed and proceeded to open the window and carefully look out for any snipers. Seeing none, she quickly hoisted herself up and onto the fire escape. She ducked, waiting for Sean to do the same. They soon reached the rooftop together and jumped onto the next one.

A bullet went buzzing right beside Alex's right ear and she turned but Sean was quicker, and he was already shooting the gunman who was at his bedroom window, where they had been not forty seconds ago. The man was down, and they continued on to the third rooftop, Sean leading the way on what was clearly an escape path he already knew.

They paused to catch their breaths on an alley ten blocks away from his home.

Alex stared at Sean, both nearly doubled over by the effort of running and jumping around. "Was there anything important over there?" she asked him between gasps. Sean shook his head, also out of breath. "No. Everything was expendable."

"Good." Alex sounded more recovered now, even straightening up. "Because you can't go back there. At least not for a while." Sean already knew that, so he didn't protest.

"We can't go to your house, either. The place has certainly been compromised."

Alex stared at the distance, faced with a hard decision for the second time in less than 24 hours. She turned back to him. "I know a safe place. You wanted answers? You are going to have them" She told him, somewhat bitterly. He was now in this, he'll get what he was asking for. She didn't know if he would like it, though.

Sean simply nodded and started following her as she made her way to wherever it was.

After a while, Alex finally reached the outskirts of the beach house, knowingly triggering Birkhoff's system. It didn't take long for her to reach their front door, which was opened for her.

She didn't expect Nikita to be on the other side, pointing a gun at her.

"What…?" She said, confused, looking at Nikita. Then she noticed that the gun wasn't really pointed at her. It was pointed at Sean.

"Alex, get away from him!" Nikita yelled on her commanding voice.

Alex stepped to the side, confused. She looked at Sean's face, who looked lost, but also alert.

"His mother is Oversight, the organization that runs Division. He's a mole." Nikita told her in a hard voice, still pointing the gun at Sean. Shock hit Alex, making her look from Nikita to Sean and back. Nikita had that resolute expression she always carried when faced with a hard truth. Sean mirrored her own shock, looking utterly lost and motionless under gun point.


	9. Hanging

**Hey guys! Thank you all my amazing readers and reviewers, you're awesome!**

"What? That is a lie!" He yelled. Michael came behind him, locking him with arms around his neck. Sean struggled, and Michael had some difficult holding him still. Sean was, after all, bigger than Michael, both in height and in muscles. Nikita hoisted the gun higher, aiming directly at Sean's head, and that stopped him. Michael then dragged him to a chair and tied him up, with Nikita pointing a gun at him through all the process.

Alex just stood there, feeling stunned. She knew she should've seen it coming, but she felt that she had already broken that distrust barrier with him. She marched to where he was. "Well, aren't you full of surprises?" She asked him in a disgusted tone. She then turned to Nikita. "What is Oversight?"

Birkhoff was the one to answer, though. He opened a file on his computer and on the big screens that surrounded the living room. It had Senator Pierce's photo, listing her as a member of Oversight along with others. She recognized the file format as being from a black box. The black box they had recently retrieved and decrypted while she was on the outs with Nikita. She looked back at Sean as he stared at the files. He seemed as surprised as she was.

Sean stared at the screen with disbelief. But, if he thought about it, it wasn't the first time he stumbled on suspicious information regarding his mother. And the other ones who were supposedly members of this Oversight…he recognized them all as his mother's acquaintances. He often went over her security's reports, and she regularly met with them on secure locations, even though their positions within the government had no relation whatsoever.

He heard Alex speak up. "If Madeline is a member of Oversight, why was Division trying to kill her?" He had been right about that, at least.

Alex wouldn't even look at him, though.

The woman Alex called Nikita spoke again. "Amanda would be happy to answer to no one, wouldn't she? But then again, it is too risky to simply kill off an Oversight member. The others could get suspicious. It was a setup. Division knew you would try to save her."

Sean looked at Alex. So, she was at his mother's house that day to warn her off. Nikita continued.

"That bomb that went off at the Gala – Madeline had been standing under it just seconds before, hadn't she?" Alex confirmed silently as Sean quietly followed the conversation. "It was supposed to look like a Gogol attempt on your life, but it was actually a Division plant. They knew you would swap with her at the last moment. "

"Oversight was probably suspicious of Division's activities, so they put him on your tail." Nikita indicated Sean with her head. "They know you don't trust Division, so it would be easier for him to fetch information." Nikita finished.

"Yes, but why would Amanda allow that? She is the one who hired him to be my bodyguard." Alex asked no one in particular.

"Amanda always has her own agenda, doesn't she?" Nikita answered, thoughtful.

Sean spoke up for the first time since he'd been tied up. "That is all very well but I wasn't sent by anyone. I went after Alex on my own." He said in a collected voice.

Alex rounded on him. "Why should we believe in you?" She asked, indignant.

Sean looked right into her eyes, the way he'd gotten used to doing when he wanted to speak seriously with her, and spoke very calmly, in a quiet tone. "You're the one who said that we had saved each other's lives and should go by on that."

"And you've trusted me, haven't you?" Alex spat at him, resenting his previous comment suggesting that she was an impostor.

Nikita observed the exchange from afar. Something didn't add up with her. The horrified look on Sean's face as Birkhoff showed them those files…Madeline might as well have kept it all from him to protect his career. She pulled Alex to the side as Michael kept watch on Sean.

"Alex, I think he is telling the truth." Nikita said in a soft voice, so only Alex could hear her. Alex turned around to look at him and then back to Nikita.

"Even if he is, we can't let him go. He could give your location to Oversight, and they could use it as leverage with Division. I don't know what we are going to do with him." Alex said in hushed tones.

Nikita knew Alex well, and could see the conflict in her eyes. She did not wish to kill Sean, and neither did Alex. They could see that he'd been caught up in all of this and sympathized with that.

"Alex, it is your call. Michael and I need to go to Cassandra." She held one of Alex's hands. Something occurred to Alex. He _could_ be telling the truth. He didn't _know_ she was really Alexandra Udinov. But his mother certainly knew it.

Alex squeezed Nikita's hand in reassurance and nodded once. "You can go. I'll hold the fort." Nikita motioned for Michael to come to her as Alex went back to sit on the couch in front of Sean's chair.

Sean noticed as Alex sat down on the couch, her movements rigid and tense. He also noticed the woman who had pointed the gun at him and the guy who had held him slipping out quietly.

He knew what he had to do. With them leaving, there was only him, Alex and the nerd guy in the house. Nerd guy didn't seem to pose a threat to him, and he had already gone upstairs after a few words with her. His only impediment right now was Alex.

Alex, and the fact that he didn't want her to get hurt.

"I _am_ Alexandra Udinov." She announced, staring him in the eyes.

Sean held her look, considering her. He finally nodded, quiet. "And how did you survive their attack at fourteen?" Alex looked down, rubbing her hands together. "I was spared by an agent who later went rogue". He should've known that, or were his questions an act?

Sean figured the rogue agent must be the black haired woman who just left. So was she a double agent at Division? "And how did you end up in that park five years ago?" He asked her softly.

Alex's eyes snapped up back to his, a wide blue. This was the first time either of them had acknowledged that encounter. "I was placed on the family of one of my father's men, but…" She paused, and he could see her silent struggle. He swallowed dryly; certainly he wouldn't like what he would hear. She turned away. "Apparently, my father could trust no one, because I was sold." He thought he could see a tear sparkling, but when she turned to look back at him, it was gone.

He flexed his fists, angry at the story she'd just told. He'd always felt particularly disgusted by human trafficking. It wasn't uncommon for them to keep their victims drugged so they would be easy to manage.

Alex had begun telling him her story to assert his honesty and verify how much he knew, but she ended up getting emotional. What surprised her the most, though, was to see his anger as she mentioned the being sold part.

They stayed silent for a long time after that, with Sean looking at her as she sat very still on the couch, staring at the wall to her left.

Hours later found them on the same position still, with both of them dozing off. Sean had already managed to loosen up the ropes that kept him tied to the chair, but still hadn't found a good moment to escape. He didn't want it to escalate to a confrontation.

He hated the thought of having to fight Alex.

He also wasn't sure she felt the same way about him, and there was always the risk of him getting his ass kicked.

He had to try, though.

"Can I get a glass of water?" Alex, eyes a bit sleepy, nodded, got up and walked towards the kitchen. He watched her progress anxiously, knowing he had one chance of pulling this off.

She walked back with her arm extended, glass held securely. He counted her every step and it seemed to take forever for her to reach him.

Once she was at arms' length, he spoke.

"I'd ask for you to hand me that, but…"

She came a little closer and he spotted his chance right there.

Sean brought his knee up, sending the cup flying, water pouring everywhere and distracting Alex for a moment. At the same time, he took his hands out of the loosened rope and got up, all at once. Alex quickly recovered though, and tried to land a blow with an open palm to the right side of his neck. He, however, was already a few movements ahead of her, courtesy of the flying cup, and managed to block it with his right forearm. She then attempted to land an open palm blow to his chest, obviously trying to push him away so she could reach for the gun. He blocked it in sequence, already prepared for the kick that came next. He took it with a grunt of pain, using it to trap her leg between his two legs and take his own gun that she had stashed a few hours ago.

This was a delicate moment as he knew there would be a struggle for the gun. He wanted to avoid that, so he tried to push her away with a swift blow to the stomach that he knew would knock the air out of her, but he couldn't do much while holding the gun. She managed to block it with both her hands and momentarily threw him off his balance and he only managed to keep her away from the gun due to their height difference.

Since the gun was already pointing up, he decided to shoot the lights out. As they were both enveloped in darkness, he ran blindly towards where he memorized the door to be, taking advantage of the few seconds that took for Alex's eyes to adjust to the darkness and find him.

In a few seconds he managed to get out the door and put a few good meters between him and the house, knowing that Alex would be hot on his trail.

Alex managed to find another gun in the darkness and give chase to Sean a little after he ran out the door. She could see him fifty meters in front of her, and she hoisted her gun. She knew she could take the shot from that distance, and she had him on her aim. She closed one eye and held the gun with both hands.

She was very still as she aimed at him as the distance between them only grew. Sixty meters. Sixty-one. Sixty two. Sixty three. Sixty four.

She put the gun down, watching as he put even more distance between them. She turned back and entered the house.


	10. You're so cold

**Hey guys…first of all, sorry it took me so long to post another chapter...second, if you haven't watched 3x18, just skip straight to the story because my statement will be spoilerish, ok?**

**What happened sucks big time, but I want you guys to know that it won't afect this story AT ALL. While I feel that Sean's character was misused this season, with him having no real story aside from Salex, and killed just to serve Alex's story, it was still a great character and actor Dillon Casey did an amazing job performing him. In my view, after they're out there, characters never really die, because the public takes "ownership" of them whether as inspiration for other characters or like we are doing, in fanfics. This is corny, but he'll be forever with us, because there are no limits to our imagination.**

ONE MONTH LATER, MOSCOW

Sean entered the ball room in confident strides, wearing a black tux and looking every bit the part of the rich bon vivant that was his cover. He searched the room with his eyes, certain it wouldn't take him long to spot the heiress he was looking for.

He spotted her laughing and touching the arm of what appeared to be a politician. Fake laughter, obviously. Whenever she laughed, really laughed, her big blue eyes would crinkle and shine like a couple of sapphires. He knew her already, that was the only reason why he could tell she was faking it, because she put up an awesome cover.

She had a long red dress with an extravagant tail. Red lace covered her arms and complicated diamond jewelry adorned her ears and hair. She was the scandalous heir through and through with an (untouched) glass of wine in her hand, waltzing through the hall and charming everyone.

He smiled a little as he observed her. It'd been a month since he'd last seen her, and all he could say was that his world had turned upside down since then. He'd confirmed his mother's participation on Oversight and learned of the strained relationship they had with Division.

He was utterly shocked to learn of all the missions his mother had been, directly and indirectly, involved in. His vision of her, his previous vision, had been completely shattered. Even though she'd never been the kind of mother to hold and kiss their children all the time, he'd always looked up to her. Admired her. Strived to be more like her, and value the same things he'd thought she valued. She was a lioness, and he liked to think that he had gotten that from her. The will to protect the people he loved.

He mentally sighed. However she behaved, and even though he didn't approve, he had to make sure she was safe. And he saw only one way to do that.

Alex had her back turned to him as he approached her. He took a glass of water from a passing by waiter and stood one meter behind her. Knowing how well she was aware of her surroundings at all moments, she would certainly notice his presence.

It didn't take her long to look sideways. He could see that her mouth hardened the second she acknowledged his presence, but, as good as she was with keeping appearances, it was gone a moment later. She turned around just a fraction too quickly. "Sean" she said in a low, menacing voice.

He took a couple of steps towards her. She stood very still, and Sean was instantly reminded of a cat preparing to lunge. He took the wine from her, knowing she'd been pretending to drink it, but she didn't protest. He replaced it with the water, and she accepted it without taking her eyes off his.

She took a sip of the water, but he knew it wasn't because she trusted him not to have put anything in it. It was her way of telling him that she'd been aware of his presence from the moment he entered the ball room. He waited quietly, trying to maintain a pleasant façade.

Her lips left the glass, a lipstick stain on it, as she fixed him with an intense stare. She brought the glass slowly down. "I don't trust you." She clarified, in a low voice even as she maintained the façade of the seductive diva.

He extended a hand to her and she stared at it, unmoving. "Will you dance with me?" He said a bit too loudly so that people around would hear it and she wouldn't be able to refuse. She noticed people around turning and staring and she fought the urge to fume even as she smiled and put her hand in his. He led her to the dancefloor.

He held her hand firmly but delicately, conducting her other hand towards his shoulder and finally resting his right hand just above her waist. Santa Maria Del Buen Ayre started playing and they started a _tango._

He conducted her on a cross walk backwards as they held each other's stare. He couldn't tell what she was thinking, for her eyes held a blank stare. He pivoted her to the right side, she did a backward eight, and they did an "American exit" and started a parallel walk. He was conducting and she was letting him, facing him with a fiery stare, putting on a show to the other party guests that were watching.

He was well aware of all of their stares and was sure that she was acting. He couldn't help but feel pulled into her direction, though. Her eyes brought him in like an undercurrent. He pivoted her to the other side and started a twirling sequence of eights, watching as the steps forced her away from him, her lean body moving gracefully, and back in his direction, making him realize that he missed her warmth. They never broke their stare.

As soon as other, more experienced couples joined the floor, Sean could feel the stare of the general public switch to other couples. Almost as soon as that happened, he felt Alex's body tense and resist his conduction. He wasn't leading anymore, she was. She parallel walked with him and dragged his right foot with her right foot, spreading his legs open. When she went for the leg hook, though, she used the move to swiftly kick him on the groin. He grimaced with pain as she pretended innocence.

He turned her with her back to him, holding her waist and slowly conducting her towards the exit. She swirled, facing him once again, and attempted to block his leg with her leg, but he caught it early this time and did a leg trap. She did a fancy, flurry movement where she pretended to be caressing his leg with hers and she leaned towards him as he leaned backwards. He realized she was reaching for his hidden knife, but he whirled her away.

She whirled back to him and hooked her leg around his waist. They struggled for upper body control as they twirled in the ball room, never breaking their stare. With heavier weight and greater body strength, didn't take Sean long to overcome Alex and lead her away from the floor. He knew she couldn't do anything too drastic as long as they were in public view.

He worried about what she would do once they weren't, though.

As they approached the exit of the ball room, Sean turned Alex around and held her with one hand, firmly but casually so it wouldn't appear weird for the onlooker, but in a way that left her with no escape. The ball room was on the ground floor of the hotel Alex was staying in, and didn't take long for them to reach the elevator area.

With no one around, Alex was quick to step on his foot with her high heel, and elbow his jaw, making him release her. She quickly turned around and slammed her palm against his nose, making him stumble backwards. As she went in for another blow, Sean quickly recovered and held both of her arms above her head, slamming her against the closed elevator door. They stared at each other.

"Damn it, Alex". Her eyes shone with anger as she struggled to free herself. Luckily for Sean, the elevator came right at that moment, giving him an opportunity to push her inside and get in with her. He quickly pushed the button to make the doors close and the elevator stop. He saw her pulling out something that was strapped to her leg, and didn't have to hear the click before he realized she was pointing a gun at him.

"Open this door right now!" She yelled at him, anger obvious in her voice and face.

He put his hands up, palms turned towards her. "Alex, hear me out…"

"Open it _now._" She said in a quiet, deadly voice. But instead of pushing the button to open the door, he pushed the number of the floor he knew her room was in. She took an exasperated breath as she realized he knew where she was staying.

"Are you _stalking _me?" She asked him in a disgusted tone, her gun still trained on him. He still held his hands in the air.

"No." He told her levelly. "No. I want to help you, Alex." He told her earnestly.

"Whoever – she paused, almost unable to keep her voice from shaking in fury – said I _wanted your help_?" Sean worried that, since they were in a closed space, that it could end badly. Alex seemed more distressed than he'd ever seen her. She usually held a neutral expression, with nuances of her real emotions showing through her eyes or through little movements of her mouth. He couldn't help but admire how firmly she held up the gun, though.

He tried to use a soothing tone. "You have no one that can help you on what you're planning to do tomorrow but me." He knew it for a fact. In the last month, he'd learned all about those people that had held him at the beach house. Nikita, Michael and Seymour. They were all rogue Division agents. They couldn't be anywhere public with Alex. And he knew she was going to go to her reformed childhood home in a very public, but still very dangerous manner.

The elevator produced a beep sound to signal that it had reached their destination. Alex strapped the gun to her thigh again, knowing there was a camera on the corridor. She walked past Sean and out of the elevator with a look that dared him to stop her.

She didn't turn around when she spoke. "I don't need your help". She stealthily walked away to her room as Sean wondered, still inside the elevator, why she appeared much more composed already.

Today didn't go quite well, he thought. He still had tomorrow, though.

Alex shut the door to her hotel room, locking it behind her. She took a deep breath, anxious about what had just happened. She hadn't _personally _seen him in the last month.

Oh yes, she'd kept tabs on him, to make sure he wouldn't blab about Nikita, Michael or Birkhoff. Well, kept them the best she could, since he knew how to lay low. She noticed he'd been investigating Division, pulling mission files, enjoying the access his mother had. She would've done exactly that, had she been him.

Also, the beach house was secure. No one had approached it, and as far as she knew, he hadn't divulged its location.

So what _was _his angle this time?

All she knew was that the farther away he was from her, the best.

The following day found Alex sitting inside a limo, wearing the huge sunglasses she always wore whenever she was playing Alexandra, right outside the replica of what used to be her childhood home. The sight of it made her feel oddly distant, like she was remembering a movie that had ended badly; but it also made her nauseated. About ten people, between journalists and photographers already stood in front of the house. She was the one who'd contacted them, to insure her safety, but the sight of it all made her groan. She was reluctant to open the car's door.

She didn't need to, though. A car pulled up right behind her limo. A few seconds later, her door was opened for her, and she looked out – apprehensive – to see none other than Sean Pierce in the flesh, who'd arrived with the reporters, dressed in a black suit, pretending once again to be her bodyguard.

He offered her his hand, and she accepted it in front of the cameras. He pulled her out of the car and she adjusted her skirt, with a smile in her face. "You don't give up, do you?" She said from the side of her mouth. He kept a professional, nonchalant look. "This is no way to talk to a guy that might take a bullet for you."

She kept her smile. "I wish you would" she said in a low voice, from the corner of her mouth. She moved forward, ignoring him. She kept her head high and a delighted smile on her face, playing the heiress that was happy to be home. Inside, though, she felt like her stomach would drop. Behind her eyes, she could visualize the house burning down.

She hadn't even realized she was swaying until Sean took her left arm to steady her. She turned to her left side, and saw him giving her a concerned look. She had the impression he quietly asked her something along the lines of "Are you ok?" but she felt oddly out of her own body; like she had lost her ability to understand what she saw around her and what she heard. She actually welcomed Sean's supporting arm. _Steel yourself_, she thought. She had to do this at any cost. This was her endgame. Nothing else mattered.

She was led to the front door by Sean, who pretended to the journalists and photographers that he was simply protecting her. It occurred to her, in the back of her mind that maybe Sean was right, and his presence was welcome, because she really needed someone to aid her.

She'd never tell him _that,_ though.

As soon as she entered the house, her out-of-body feelings ceased. Instead, she felt like she'd received a punch to the stomach, and went cold. Every single piece of furniture looked exactly the same as it had when she was a child. It was so weirdly similar, in fact, that she wondered if Semack had mapped the house before it was burnt to ground.

Thinking about how long Semack must have planned for their deaths made her anger reach boiling point. Sean squeezed her arm slightly, throwing her a worried glance, and she remembered to appear relaxed for the cameras. This was harder than she'd foreseen.

In order to distract herself, she decided to narrate her "feelings" to the journalists. "Everything looks exactly the same of when I was a kid! Uncle Serguei did a wonderful job!" _That bastard, _she added in her head.

In fact, everywhere she looked triggered a memory of her family. As she went into the kitchen, she remembered all those nights she'd stayed up to wait for her papa to come home from work. Her father would always scold her for being up so late, but never too harshly; he would give her a smile that made her sure that he was happy to be welcomed with such devoted love.

The memory brought tears to her eyes. She felt so different back then! Her thirteen- year-old self would never recognize the woman she became. It had always been her father's plan – and hers, consequently – to send her to an American business college, to later have her comeback and work at Zetrov, and, eventually, take over. Her desire to honor her father's wishes and put Zetrov back on track was the only thing left she had in common with that little girl.

She suddenly heard Sean say "Alexandra needs a moment" and escort her away to a nearby parlor that provided some privacy to them. She looked at him disconcerted, as though she'd forgotten that there were other people around besides herself. Sean held her upper arms gently and faced her. "Alex, are you ok?"

Alex forced herself to focus on him, blocking out everything else. "Yes" she replied, her voice steady. She welcomed his distraction, remembering what she came here to do. She looked around, seeing that the journalists were distracted by the house. Now was the time to make her move. "Cover for me" she instructed, and headed for the back staircase, Sean right in her heels, gun ready.

She knew her way around the house like it had been yesterday the last time she'd seen it, and it took her no time to break in to her father's former office. She opened the door and stood there for a few seconds, taking in her surroundings. The office wasn't an exact replica of her father's office. It didn't make sense; why would Semack want the whole house to be just the same, except for the office?

Alex was brought out of her reverie by Sean, who warned her "Alex, hurry". She nodded to him and quickly spotted a laptop on top of the table. She took out her equipment and started copying the hard drive. She anxiously observed the progress bar.

Footsteps echoed on the stairs, heading towards them. Alex gave one nervous look to Sean, who only smiled at her and went out the door. Alex changed her focus back to the screen.

She heard a few quick blows on the outside of the office, together with a few muffled "aahs" and "oohs", none coming from Sean. She smiled to herself. He appeared back in the doorstep as cool as if he'd just gone out to observe a painting. "Are you done?" He asked in a relaxed tone. She disengaged the equipment. "All done!" She said brightly, getting up quickly. He followed her out of the door.

They started heading back towards the main floor, but they heard another set of footsteps coming in their direction. Sean positioned himself for another fight, but Alex stopped him and motioned for him to follow her. They headed in the opposite direction, Alex leading.

Once they were out of earshot, she explained to him where they were going. "There's an elevator in the master chamber. We can use it to get down to the kitchen quietly." He nodded as she put her ear to the chamber's door to hear for any movement. She couldn't identify any noises that indicated there was someone in the room, except…

Except for a female voice.

A voice that greatly resembled her mother's.

Alex felt an electrical shock going through her body. Was she hallucinating? Her heart sped up and her brain went into overdrive. Throwing all care to the wind, she shoved the double doors open, anxious to find the source of the familiar voice.

And she found her mother singing, sitting on the bedroom that was an exact replica of what her parent's bedroom had been, like no time at all had passed. She doubted herself for a millisecond.

"Mother?" She said in a weak, anguished voice. Her mother looked up, shock and recognition – and something else that Alex couldn't identify – in her eyes.

"Alexandra!" She exclaimed, standing from the bed.

Alex ran towards her mother, throwing herself at the same moment her mother opened her arms. They embraced, Alex holding her tightly, still quite not believing what she saw. Tears flooded her eyes, and she felt a mixture of emotions that left her more out of control than at any moment she'd been in the house. She sobbed copiously into her mother's shoulder. Her mother held her tightly.

"Mom" She said in Russian, her voice muffled. "I thought you were dead"

Her mother let her go, holding her face gently between her hands. "I woke up in a hospital. They told me you were dead". Alex bit her lip, trying to keep from weeping at the pain she saw in her mother's face. "My baby girl" her mother turned around, trying to spare her daughter from her pain.

Alex took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She had to take her mother with her. And she wouldn't do that if she was a mess. Still speaking Russian, she held her mother's hands, trying to calm her. "It's okay mom, we're both okay."

"How?" Her mother asked her. Alex took a deep breath, swallowing hard. "Someone spared my life. You have been here all these years? With Semack?" Her voice was broken and her hands shook. She felt that she would be sick. Sean kept his eyes down, wanting to give them privacy. He couldn't imagine how shocked Alex must be.

It was the first time Alex noticed her mother's eyes were cloudy. Being an addict she recognized those symptoms pretty well as being from someone who was under the influence. "Serguei came to visit me in the hospital. He was the one who told me what had happened. That your father's enemies had attempted to kill us. He rebuilt this house and protected me all these years." Alex's heart broke.

"Protect you?" She held her mother's hands tighter. "No! He was the one who did this to us, mama!" Her voice was desperate now. She couldn't help herself, she let go of her mother and started pacing around nervously. She messed with her own hair. "He wanted everything that was papa's. Including you" she turned around to face her mother.

Her mother was clearly in anguish. "No. No. He had me. We had each other" She said in a shattered voice." She faced Alex with fearful eyes. Alex's heart broke. Her mother had an affair with the man who murdered her father. A black hole opened inside of her that made her feel faint. Her whole body trembled as she stared at her mother, hoping that it wasn't true somehow.

"Alex" Her mother said desperately, walking towards her daughter. "You are wrong about him. He didn't do any of this. He would never do that." Alex looked at her mother with tear-filled eyes, shaking her head. "No. Mama, you are not ok. He's giving you something, isn't he?" Alex cried out. Her mother frowned. "I have to get you out of here. You must come with me." Alex told her, taking a deep breath and steeling herself in resolution.

She turned towards Sean, unable to think straight. "Sean, how can we get her out of here undetected?" Sean looked from the two women to the corridors outside of the bedroom, analyzing their options. Maybe he could sneak her out while Alex distracted the reporters. It was a good thing that security was worried enough about all those people on the house that it would be relatively easy. But that left Alex unguarded.

"Alexandra" Alex turned back towards her mother. "You don't understand. There is no need for that." "What?" Alex could barely understand what her mother said, she was so dizzy already. "No, mother, you must come with me." She grabbed her mother's shoulders, willing to make her leave even if by force. Her mother shook her head and Alex grew desperate.

Sean heard footsteps. "Alex, there are guards coming up. We must leave now. Convince her." Alex looked from Sean to her mother, feeling her throat tighten. She put an arm around her mother's shoulder, willing her to move. "Alexandra, no!" Her mother turned Alex towards her. "It's okay."

Alex shook her head, desperately trying to figure out how to convince her mother. She sobbed. "Mother. Just come with me." She grabbed her mother by force and attempted to drag her. Her mother screamed, scared. Alex let her go in shock. Sean swore under his breath. The guards had heard the screaming and were now running towards them. He ran to Alex. "Alex. We must go. _Now._"

Alex ignored him. "Mother!" She screamed, now full blown tears running down her face. Her mother had a mixture of grief with confusion stamped on her face. "Alex." Sean put his hand on her shoulder. She didn't turn to look at him. He could hear the guards now approaching the corridor they were in.

Sean had to make a quick decision. He looked from Alex to her mother, and saw the resolution in the older woman's face, and the stubbornness he by now knew was so characteristically Alex. In quick movements, he grabbed Alex and removed her from the scene, bolting from the house, leaving her mother screaming for her daughter to stay with her.

Ari Tasarov observed the chaos on Semack's house on the aftermath of young Alexandra finding her mother stashed on the house. His impassive expression betrayed itself for seconds as his mouth curled in a small smirk. Certain that he wouldn't be overheard in the chaos, he took out his secured cellphone and dialed the only number he ever called on that phone.

Soon enough, Amanda's voice came on the other side. "Yes?" She drawled as usual.

"She found her" He said, certain that Amanda would understand.

Amanda smiled. "Good. And Katya didn't want to leave, as you predicted?"

"Yes. Serguei has too strong a hold on her. For now, at least."


	11. Cups of Pride

**Hey guys! This chapter is short, but we finally find out what happened to make Sean leave the Seals...I wanted to put it out there fast, so here we go...**

**Some rants about the latest episode: (if you haven't watched it, don't read). I thought it was great, but I miss salex...and I will never, ever, ship olex. If it happens, it will be so OOC for Alex. She doesn't easily trust people, it took Sean a long time to get her to even open up a little to him, and he always cared for her, even if he tried to use her in the beggining of season 2, he always had her best interests in mind afterwards. And she is just going to fall for Owen, so soon after Sean's death? According to the episode, it has been two days since Sean died (it is mentioned that it's been two days since all the other agents left). What do you guys think?**

**Anyway, on with the story...**

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Sean held Alex by the waist as she debated in a wild fury. She attempted to slap and punch him to make him let her go. She was strong, but this was very different from her cold, calculated strikes. It only made him want to hold her tighter as she cried. He released her only once they got inside the limo, but she leaned against the door and continued sobbing, albeit quietly. He ordered the driver to take them to her hotel, sat beside her, saying nothing, his hands caressing her hair. She eventually calmed down, staying quiet, but he saw the streak of tears down her cheeks.

Once they got to the hotel, he picked her up easily from inside the car, the same way he had done once when she was unconscious from the explosion she'd protected him from. She seemed in shock and didn't protest at all. Actually, she didn't even seem to recognize what was around her.

He opened her room door carefully, holding her so she wouldn't fall. Once they went through the door, she motioned for him to let her go. He did, and she silently walked towards the couch, sat down, and proceeded to stare out of the window, her back turned to him.

He stared at her back for a long time, unsure of what to do as she sat there quietly. He pondered on how small she looked at that moment, in opposition to the force of nature she usually was. He approached the couch hesitantly and sat beside her. She turned to him, and he saw silent tears running down her face.

"The last time I'd stepped inside that house was the night when my father was murdered" She told him, voice breaking. She wiped away her tears. Sean watched her closely, feeling for her. She continued. "All these years" she begin, but stopped, took a deep breath, trying to hold in her tears. She failed. "All those years" she said, between her tears, breathing out of control "I needed my mother and he kept her from me." She broke down again.

Sean took her in a hug, trying to comfort her. "It's okay Alex. You don't need to explain yourself." He tried to soothe her as she shed endless tears over his shirt.

He understood she was conflicted right now. The impact her mother's rejection had on her today gave him an insight on the strength of those feelings she kept hidden all the time. She always showed so much determination. He had no idea how much she had to fight against. He stroked her shoulder lightly, trying to comfort her, but she suddenly went rigid and he let go of her.

"Alex" he spoke quietly, looking deep into her eyes. "Alex, tell me what you are thinking" concern dripped from his voice.

He could see the moment when the vulnerability on her eyes went opaque and her walls were brought up again. She went defensive. He braced himself from what was coming. She swallowed hard and broke their stare. "You should go." She told him dryly.

His stomach fell, but he kept his tone resolute. "I am not going anywhere, Alex"

She ignored him. "Thank you for helping me, but I am fine now." She told him, already getting up from the couch to open the door for him. He stayed where he was. "Alex, it is not _fine_. _You_ are not fine."

Alex had her back turned to him. She sat back down on the couch, not looking at him for one moment, neither saying anything. Sean breathed out, internally making a decision. He opened his mouth to speak.

"While I was a SEAL, a low chance mission came up. We had to infiltrate a small African country and kill their dictator. It was low chance because the dictator had a private guard that had inherited its training from the Gestapo." He stopped talking, eyes down. Alex looked at him, confused as to why he was telling her this story. After a moment, he continued.

"He explored the wealthy diamond mines of the country, so he was filthy rich, while his people starved. He was paranoid with his security. They had high tech we suspected were stolen from Israel. We had a way in, but no way out. The boards were heavily secured, especially with it being a small country, and the minute we made the hit, we knew it was over for us." He paused, running his hand over his hair and messing it further. Alex simply looked at him quietly.

"We had chosen that. After the hit, we were imprisoned by the Dictator's son, who was actually quite glad that we had killed his father so he could take over. We were held in one of their private prisons, either one of us in a cell. They took our commander first." He took a deep breath, pausing for a long moment. Alex could see that his hand trembled. She came closer and covered his hand with hers, feeling sympathy for him.

"There were rats all over. And then the tortures started. They would take us one at a time, ask questions, then return us bloodied and in bad shape so the others could see. " Alex flinched at the pain she heard in his voice, squeezing his hand harder. "I had to find a way out, a way to take them out. I didn't sleep. I thought that we had better chances of getting out at night." He paused again.

"After a week or so, a fight broke out between the guards. I knew it was our chance. I knocked one of them out, took his rifle. After that, getting out was relatively easy. Most of the guards were drunk, so they were easy targets. We stayed in the desert for five more days until we could cross the border and be extracted. Not all of us made it" His expression showed bitterness.

"We all took some time off, and were forced to take counseling. I was beginning to show signs of PTSD. I felt enraged most of the time. And it all went to hell." He turned to look her in the eyes for the first time since he had begun telling his tale.

"I found evidence that my commander was passing intel to the special forces on the country we had just gotten out of. He had betrayed us all. I went to confront him, and then – he choked – images of the rats eating John's leg, he was in the cell next to mine, were running through my mind. We started fighting and I…I shot him. He died in my arms." Alex stood very still, her eyes focused on the sad expression she saw on Sean's face.

"He had been my biggest mentor. The last thing he told me was "A good commander trades his life for that of his subordinates. I was promoted to his place. That gave me access to everything that had been his, and I uncovered that he had struck a deal with the Dictator's son just so he could save all of our lives. He died a traitor, so I turned up the evidence in hopes of clearing his name. They said he had made the wrong call and there was no justifying a betrayal like that. I was treated like a hero, when I had killed the person I owed my life to. So I left." He finished dryly.

Alex had sympathy and sadness in her eyes when he looked at her. "Sean, why have you told me this?" She asked in a soothing voice. He looked away. His hand was still enclosed in hers, so he took it away.

"You don't like feeling vulnerable" He told her, a small, sad smile in his mouth. "You're not the only one." When he started telling her the story, he thought that he could handle it. But she was the first person – aside from the army therapist – that he'd told all of this to. It was still rough.

At least it seemed to have snapped her out of her previous state. "Sean…I don't know what to say. I am sorry". She searched his eyes and took his hand back in hers. He looked back at her, surprised by her actions. He saw reassurance in her eyes and let his hand be held, giving hers a little squeeze.

Sean laughed a little. "I wanted to comfort you, and you end up comforting me." Alex smiled a little. "Just like that time when you were my bodyguard and I had to save you." Sean looked at her with mock reprehension. "I thought it was established that we would no longer talk about that." They both smiled, looking at each other, feeling lighter.

A few moments passed as they couldn't take their eyes of each other, their stare becoming more intense by the second. They were painfully aware of their hands interlaced between them. Alex's heart beat faster as she noticed the warmth of Sean's skin against her own.

Alex cleared her throat at the same time Sean released her hand.

"I need some sleep" Alex got up nervously.

"I'll take the couch" Sean pointed behind him. Alex nodded. "Good night." She turned her back to him without another word and disappeared inside the bedroom. Sean accompanied her progress with his eyes, finally lying down as she shut the door.

Sean sighed, raised his torso a little just to remove his shirt, and laid back down. He stood there a few minutes, quiet, paying attention to the silence around him, trying not to think about what had just happened. Then he heard the door to her room open, and his heart jumped. He leaned forward a little bit in his elbows.

Alex stopped a few paces from the couch, uneasy, a blanket in her hands. Sean sat up, realizing this was the second time she saw him naked today. Well, semi-naked this time. "Is that for me?" He asked, pointing towards the blanket. "Yes" Alex replied, distraught. She stepped forward and awkwardly started spreading the blanket to cover him up. He took it from her hands, thanking her.

Alex stood there as he covered his chest up. He knew she wanted to say something, so he looked at her, waiting patiently for her to speak.

"Sean, listen. "She put a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked into his eyes. "Thank you for today." She said softly. Sean nodded at her. "Thank you for the blanket." She smiled, then turned back to her room and shut the door.

Sean let out a sigh as he stared at the dark ceiling. He hadn't really slept since meeting Alex.


	12. Relentless Lightning

**Finally! A new chapter! :D **

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Alex woke up the next day but did not get out of bed. Instead, she stared at the white ceiling as the events of the previous day played in repeat through her mind. Her heart sped up and she felt anxiety wash over her as she attempted to calm herself down by breathing slowly and steadily.

Her priorities had shifted completely. Saving her mother was now absolutely number one. Something in her stomach dropped at that thought. She wasn't sure whether her mom _wanted _to be saved, though.

She'd noticed that her mother's eyes were cloudy, a clear indication that she wasn't in her right mind. She would know, given her past…

Or maybe she was just projecting herself into her mother, in an attempt to justify her actions.

_Stop. _She told herself. _You need to leave your emotions out of this. _

But that was the point of the whole mission. She wanted revenge. She was emotional about it. Truth was, she wasn't even sure of anything anymore. Finding out about her mother's affair had felt like the ground had been taken from under her feet. She now doubted every memory she had of her childhood, looking for signs that the affair had really been going on.

Alex sighed as she held her forehead in one hand. This was too much. Too conflicted.

She walked out of her room and found Sean standing in front of the kitchen counter, pouring coffee in a hotel mug. She stopped briefly, observing his back. The things he'd told her yesterday had changed her view of him somehow. It was as though a whole new dimension of him had opened up to her.

And she wasn't sure of what to make of it, either.

He noticed her presence, throwing her a smile over his coffee mug and pushing one just exactly like it towards her, as a good morning. She smiled gently back, touched by the gesture. She picked up the mug, turned around and headed for the couch, feeling tongue tied and awkward.

She sat down, and, from the corner of the eye, saw that he was heading towards the couch too; focused on the local newspaper he had in his left hand. He sat down, not looking up from the paper, as she sharply noticed that she actually _welcomed_ his warmth near her.

"Do you read Russian?" She asked him with in a teasing tone, looking at the newspaper he had in his hands, trying to ignore this newfound awareness she had of him. He turned a smile on her , catching her off guard. "I'm a visual guy." He told her with a smile.

Alex smiled back, rolling her eyes playfully. As she did, she spotted an open laptop on the opposite sofa, the one he'd been sleeping in. She turned to him, noticing that he had followed her gaze to the laptop. She furrowed her brows as she noticed how cloudy his expression had turned.

He turned to fix his stare in her eyes, his tone somber. "Alex, we need to talk." His words made her apprehensive, and she involuntarily erected her spine, her arms poised at her sides in a way that would seem casual to most people, but Sean knew that she'd gone into alert. He mentally sighed. He knew he had to choose his next words carefully, lest he'd like to get his ass kicked.

She said nothing as she waited for him to elaborate. He braced himself, deciding to be forward about it. "Oversight wants your money." He said in a calm, steady voice. He observed as her body went rigid still and her eyes turned that cool, cold shade that she used to use on him. He knew it not to be a good sign. He was _this _close to getting his face smacked.

"And you are here to ensure that they get it?" She inquired of him, her voice equally as freezing as her eyes, and twice as deadly. A spark of anger colored his tone, as he told her an emphatic "No", his voice only slightly raised. It enraged him, irrationally, that she would always assume the worst of him.

_People like us survive from assuming the worst of other people._ A voice in his head told him. And also _you've given her reason before._

He took a deep breath and repeated "No", this time more calmly. "I want to stop them from getting it." Her glare turned skeptical. "And why would you do that?" She asked him. He swallowed hard and regarded her for a brief moment.

"After their scheme was uncovered by Fletcher-"

"You know about Ryan?" She interrupted him. The look he gave her said "Of course I know everything about Ryan Fletcher and also everything about everything else regarding Oversight now" making her quiet again. It'd be comic, hadn't it been such a strenuous context, this little reminder of how much it hurt his pride that he'd been blindsided by _his own mother._

He continued. "They're on the verge of bankruptcy, and if they go out of business –"

"Division goes out of business." She completed for him, a gleam of hope illuminating her eyes. _Then Nikita can be free, too. _

"I was going to say that my mother will stop putting herself in dangerous situations, but there's that, too."

Alex considered what he'd just told her. She knew that as far as his mother's wellbeing was concerned, he could be trusted. "And how are they going to steal my money?" She asked him, but she already knew the answer.

"Division." Alex said, her voice perfectly steady. She turned back towards him. "We'll deal with that later. First, we must get my mother back. Tonight" She looked at him, resolute, and he nodded once in agreement.

Ten hours later, Sean and Alex found themselves inside a flower van, parked in an alley, a block away from Zetrov Tower. Inside it, though, wasn't a flower van in the least. There were six monitors showing the security footage from inside Zetrov, courtesy of Birkhoff. Alex had called him in the afternoon, requiring his expertise in surveillance and hacking matters. She remembered the conversation fondly:

"Birkhoff, it's me." She told him as he answered, imagining her picture on those big screens at the beach house, her voice echoing through the spacious living room.

"Of course it's you" He answered, somewhat annoyed. "You'd think I wouldn't know who it was?" Alex rolled her eyes as she imagined him holding a Red Bull can. "Birkhoff!" She scolded him. "That's not the point."

"I know, I know" he told her, trying to placate her. "First of all: what do you need me to do? Second, Nikki wants to know if you're okay. We are aware that you've been…_followed."_

"You know Sean is here?" She asked in a low voice, looking behind her to make sure that Sean couldn't overhear her. "Nikki's been keeping tabs on him." Birkhoff confirmed.

Alex smiled. They watched out for her and that certainly felt good. She looked behind her again. Sean had also watched out for her. "I'm fine. He's helping me." Then, before he could protest, she changed the subject. "I need access to the security camera's inside Zetrov. Can you get that for me? I found a few keys inside the notebook I copied. I think it could get you access to the servers."

He had managed to get access, all right, Alex thought as she observed the monitors from inside the van. The only part she had no access too was Semak's personal office. That is what made this mission complicated. She would go in blindly once she got to Semak's floor.

And that was the point where she and Sean disagreed completely. He insisted once again in the subject as they reviewed their plan.

"I've told you, I should be the one to go, not you." He told her in a hard voice. "It's my mother; I should be the one to go." She told him, exasperated, as she programmed the security cameras to loop their images. He grabbed both her shoulders, gently turning her to face him. He stared at her, his face serious, hoping she would see reason. "That is exactly my point. You're too close to this. It'll be hard to maintain emotional distance."

She smirked. "Is that your expertise? Emotional distance?"

He stared at her lips for a long second, a stare that knocked her smirk off. She opened them for a breath intake that she hoped wasn't shaky. He looked away and let go of her. "Sometimes I wish it were."

Alex checked her gun as she prepared to take off. "Look, Sean." She said in a straight voice. "I don't expect you to understand. But as you said before, you're the only one I have right now." Alex could tell Sean was tense by the way his arm muscles flexed as he bent over the monitors, examining them. He sighed, looked at her and pointedly inserted the communicator in his right ear. "I've got your back." He assured her. She nodded and left the van.

Alex approached the south side of the building, where the service entrance was located. "I spotted the entrance." She murmured to Sean through her com. She ran her plan through her head again. Semak had his dinner brought to him every day at 8 pm, by the same person. She would steal the man's credentials to get clearance to Semak's floor. With all the cameras hacked by Birkhoff, she expected that it wouldn't be much of a problem. She only had to time her progress correctly in order to avoid the guard's rounds. Luckily, she had the security's timetable.

She spotted trouble before it spotted her. A few meters ahead of her, right outside the kitchen exit, were two men smoking and chatting loudly. They were clearly employed on the kitchen, judging by their attires. Alex moved quickly.

"Hello!" She exclaimed in Russian, calling their attention as she stood right in front of them. Their eyes went wide. She could be sneaky when she wanted to. Sean, who was hearing everything from the van, tensed. He kept his gun at hand and was ready to run out at any moment.

Alex flashed the guy with a badge. "Health inspection." Neither moved out of the way. She looked at their lit cigarettes pointedly. "That is going to look _very _bad on my report." She reproached them. Sean raised his eyebrow, uncertain of her play. The two guys looked at Alex with suspicion in their eyes. "Please, gentleman, step aside so I can proceed."

She could see when they made the decision to attack her. They looked at each other for a brief second, before each came on to one side of her. Fortunately, she had already anticipated that. She elbowed one in the head before spinning around to bring the other's nose onto her knee. Both fell cold to the floor. She wiped her hands and observed them both unconscious on the floor. Sean grew desperate as he heard the blows. "Alex, are you ok?!" "Yes, I am fine." She said, dismissively. "Now, which one of you is smaller?" she asked herself.

Ten minutes later and she was wearing the white kitchen attire. She entered the narrow corridors that lead to the kitchen, head down, hoping not to find anyone else wandering around. "I'm in." She whispered to Sean. She proceeded and, once she approached the main kitchen area, she slowed down, leaned against the wall and looked around the corner.

A small crashing sound startled her, followed by a reverberating angry voice. It had come from the kitchen, and she took a peek around the corner. A fat man, who was clearly the boss, was yelling at his assistant in English with a thick French accent. Her eyes brightened as she had located her target. She saw the assistant coward under the heavy bashing. "Now go clean _zat _up!"

The assistant turned around and she heard his steps coming towards her. She retreated a few paces to hide in the corner of the corridor she'd just come from. She saw as the assistant passed unseeing through her to enter the storage room, where she assumed he'd gone to collect cleaning materials. She rushed forward silently and locked the door behind him.

She heard him trying to open the door a few seconds later, followed by banging. Thankfully, it was hard to hear it over the noise of the machines in the laundry room nearby. Alex walked into the main kitchen area, head down. From the corner of her eye, she saw that her target had his back to her, fussing with pots on the stove. She took a syringe from her boot and silently approached him, her blood pumping in her ears.

He turned towards her at the last minute. "Finally! I thought you'd never be…" He stopped mid-sentence as he realized, with a start, that Alex wasn't his assistant. He filled his lungs, ready to scream, but Alex was quicker and injected him with the sleep serum she had. The scream died in his throat as his eyes slowly closed and he fell to the floor like a log. Alex felt his pockets for the card that would give her access to Semak's floor. She knew she would have fifteen minutes before security passed through the kitchen on their scheduled rounds and realized something was wrong.

"I have the card. I'm approaching the elevator now" She told Sean as she walked towards the lobby. Sean anxiously observed her progress through the monitors at the van. "Be careful, Alex."

Alex boarded the elevator, too taking a moment to breath and steady herself. She wouldn't fail this. She couldn't fail. She inserted the card into the appropriate slot at the elevator's panel, and it began its slow ascension. She took off her white apron and leaned against the elevator wall.

This was one of these moments, as many were in her life, when she had no idea what would be the outcome. Some missions were simple. Break in, grab some artifact, maybe knock out a guard. Disable a security system. Some were like this one: too many variables. And she didn't like that.

"Sean?" She called him softly through her com.

"Hmm?"

A moment of silence. "You're a nice guy."

"No." He drawled. "I'm not."

Alex looked down to hide her smile, so he couldn't see through the camera. "Yes you are. You are a boy scout." She teased him.

He smiled back at the van. "Alex." He paused, observing her on the elevator as she looked up at the camera. He sighed. "Please come back." He could see her smile turn sad. "I will" She told him weakly. The elevator rang signaling it had reached its destination. She raised her gun, determination driving her as she stepped out of the elevator.

Sean was observing her careful progress when suddenly all six of his monitors went out. Fear started welling from his throat. "Alex?" he called her. "Alex?" He called again, frantic as she didn't answer. He typed the commands to turn the monitors back again, but all he got were the black screens. He tried to get Birkhoff on the line, but found out his communicator had been overridden as well.

Foreboding crept over him. He grabbed his gun and carefully opened the door. He stepped outside, looking around for any signs of danger. He needed to get Alex out of there. She had just stepped into a trap. He made to run towards the building, but saw, from the corner of his eye, as a man prepared to strike him from behind.

Alex, back at the tower, found it odd when she didn't see the two armed men that constituted the personal security of one Serguei Semak. Nevertheless, she kept walking towards where she knew Semak would be, senses in high alert for any possible _traps._

Her palms grew sweaty as the lack of security on the floor unnerved her. She knew that nothing was ever as easy as that and that if something looked good and easy, it was about to get much _worse._ Her training took over as she shut off her brain, as it appeared it would go into overdrive from anxiety.

When she finally found Semak, he was sitting at his desk, his manner easy and calm. That alone indicated that she was in danger. Nevertheless, she spoke, gun fasted on him.

"Hello, Uncle Serguei." She greeted him in English, in a shrill tone that showed her disgust.

"Alexandra" He answered her in his thick Russian accent. The gun did not seem to bother him. "Aren't you going to put your gun down?" That didn't make her waver, though.

She ignored him. "I came here to give you a choice." She told him, her voice steady. He raised his eyebrows, his movements slow and steady. She continued. "You can either die tonight or stay alive and remain President of Zetrov."

He made a noise in his throat in mock-consideration. "In exchange?" He asked her skeptically.

Alex breathed through her nose, annoyance at him threatening to spill over. "You give me my mother back you _son of a bitch._"

Silence followed her statement. Alex waited a few seconds, and then continued, more calmly. "My mother and I will disappear from your life. Never to bother you again." She took a few steps closer. When she stood a meter from him, gun pointed at his head, she completed "Either that or you die tonight. Seems an easy choice to me."

After a few seconds, he spoke, somber, at once. "I love your mother."

Alex considered hitting his head with the butt of her gun, but restrained from doing it. She'd come here to negotiate, to put pressure on him. It was the easiest way to ensure her mother's safety.

It occurred to her, in those few moments that neither he nor she spoke, that it was _awfully silent_. She realized, with a start, that she couldn't hear the frequency of her com, and that it was dead. That, combined with Serguei's calmness and the lack of security around, confirmed her suspicions that she'd walked into a trap.

Just as that thought was processed in her brain, Ari Tasarov strode confidently from an open door behind Serguei's desk. Alex's heart thumped.

"Hello, Alexandra." He greeted her as he pulled a gun from inside his suit. Alex quickly looked sideways for cover . There was none. She breathed hard and prepared her finger on the trigger at the same moment she stilled herself in case the worst should happen.

A single fire was shot. Its noise quickly died in the spacious room, almost as if it had never been fired at all. For a brief moment, nothing else changed – but then, as Alex looked down in horror, she saw Semak's body fall limp on the floor. Ari put his still blazing gun back inside his suit and smiled at Alex.

"Now, Alexandra. Put your gun down and we can talk business."


End file.
